Flooding in Kentucky, May 2 to 4, 2002

Name: Flooding in Kentucky, May 2 to 4, 2002
Start: 2002-05-02T22:00
End: 2002-05-04T12:00
Location: Kentucky

May 2 to 4, 2002 · NWS JKL · 4 events in 4 counties and zones

Heavy rains fell across the Big Sandy and Kentucky River basins, primarily on Thursday, May 2. This resulted in excessive runoff and flooding in four eastern Kentucky counties.

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it; 4 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. Tap one for its entry below.

Tornadoes
Tropical storms and surge
Floods
Wind
Hail
Winter weather
Heat and drought
Cold
Fire, smoke and dust
Marine and coastal
Other

Open the live radar over this ground

The toll

Deaths: 1
Injuries: 0
Property damage: $5.8 million
Crop damage: $510,000
Events: 4

Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.

What happened

The episode as NWS JKL wrote it up.

Heavy rains fell across the Big Sandy and Kentucky River basins, primarily on Thursday, May 2. This resulted in excessive runoff and flooding in four eastern Kentucky counties. At 11 p.m EDT on May 2. in Pike County, a 24 year old man from Freeburn, KY was swept away in river flood water after his vehicle was stranded in the Tug Fork of the Big Sandy River at the Vulcan Bridge area on Kentucky Highway 194.At 5 a.m EDT on May 3, the North Fork of the Kentucky River at Booneville, KY in Owsley County went above flood stage of 27 feet, and continued above flood stage until 1 p.m EDT. May 3, with a crest of 27.75 feet.At approximately 6:30 a.m EDT on May 3, reports from Martin County told of water backed up from the Tug Fork of the Big Sandy River into Emily Creek and caused three feet of water to inundate Kentucky Highway 292 at Hode, KY. Deep water also occurred over Kentucky Highway 1714 on Wolf Creek Road. Seven to eight feet of water covered Mount Sterling Branch and Long Branch. Three to four feet of water covered Kentucky Highway 400 on Tipple Road, about 3 miles west of Warfield Road.Throughout Floyd County, numerous roads and culverts were damaged on May 3 from rising water from the heavy rains which occurred on May 2. Also, numerous trees were swept away in mud slides. There was one report of a mud slide which swept trees onto a trailer and caused damage and one mud slide caused damage to a business.By 8 a.m EDT. on May 4, all significant flooding had subsided in all areas.

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before the first event, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

NWS Jackson, KY wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at May 2, 7:40 PM EST, 2 hours 20 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, May 2, 7:40 PM EST, 2 hours 20 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE JACKSON KY
840 PM EDT THU MAY 2 2002

WILL UPDATE TO DROP SVR THUNDERSTORM WATCH FROM THE FORECAST. WILL
ALSO REDUCE CLOUD COVER A BIT OVERNIGHT...MAINLY IN THE NORTH. THERE
ARE STILL SOME LINGERING SHOWERS IN THE SOUTHEAST PART OF THE
AREA...SO WILL STILL NEED TO INCLUDE CHANCE POPS THERE FOR THE
EVENING...OTHERWISE DRY TONIGHT. PERTINENT PORTION OF PREVIOUS
DISCUSSION FOLLOWS.

DRY AND COOLER WEATHER FOR FRIDAY. FRONT WILL STALL OUT TO OUR SOUTH
AND SHORT WAVE MOVING EAST OUT OF MS VALLEY WILL INDUCE SFC WAVE
ALONG FRONT. OVERRUNNING PCPN ON TAP FOR FRIDAY NIGHT INTO EARLY
SATURDAY WITH BEST CHANCE FOR RAIN OVER SRN PART OF CWFA. THE SHORT
WAVE MOVES RAPIDLY NORTHEAST ON SATURDAY WITH DRY WEATHER BRIEFLY
RETURNING FOR SUNDAY. CHC OF TSTMS FOR MUCH OF NEXT WEEK.

.JKL...NONE.

HAL/SBH

The radar

The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

4 flood. Local standard time, as filed.

Flood, Floyd

When: May 2, 10:00 PM EST to May 4, 7:00 AM EST
Where: Floyd forecast zone
Property damage: $750,000
Crop damage: $250,000
Reported by: EMERGENCY MANAGER
Coordinates: 37.557, -82.746 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Flood, Pike

When: May 2, 10:00 PM EST to May 4, 7:00 AM EST
Where: Pike forecast zone
Deaths: 1 direct, 0 indirect
Property damage: $5.0 million
Crop damage: $250,000
Reported by: LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates: 37.469, -82.396 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Flood, Owsley

When: May 3, 4:00 AM EST to May 4, 12:00 PM EST
Where: Owsley forecast zone
Reported by: OFFICIAL NWS OBS.
Coordinates: 37.419, -83.683 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Flood, Martin

When: May 3, 7:00 AM EST to May 4, 7:00 AM EST
Where: Martin forecast zone
Property damage: $10,000
Crop damage: $10,000
Reported by: LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates: 37.802, -82.513 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

The people who died

As the offices recorded each death: direct deaths were caused by the weather itself, indirect ones by something it set in motion.

Event	Date	Age	Sex	Where	Kind
Flood, Pike	2002-05-02	24	Male	Vehicle/Towed Trailer	Direct

What these are

Flood: Flooding that develops more slowly than a flash flood: rivers leaving their banks, or water standing over land for an extended time.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

Every storm in Kentucky in 2002 Every state in 2002 This day in weather history Warnings in Kentucky, May 2002

Sources

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 5297288, 5297291, 5297290, 5297289.