Flash Flooding and Flood in Minnesota, July 9 to 20, 2002

Name: Flash Flooding and Flood in Minnesota, July 9 to 20, 2002
Start: 2002-07-09T23:05
End: 2002-07-20T23:59
Location: Minnesota

July 9 to 20, 2002 · NWS FGF · 8 events in 6 counties and zones

7 flash flood, 1 flood, as filed by the National Weather Service.

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it; 8 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: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: None recorded
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 8

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 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 Grand Forks, ND wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Jul 9, 7:50 PM CST, 3 hours 15 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jul 9, 7:50 PM CST, 3 hours 15 minutes before

FORECAST DISCUSSION FOR EASTERN NORTH DAKOTA AND NORTHWEST MINNESOTA
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE EASTERN ND/GRAND FORKS ND
850 PM CDT TUE JUL 9 2002

...LIMITED DISCUSSION DUE TO SEVERE WEATHER AND HEAVY RAINFALL AT
THIS TIME...

FCST CHALLENGE...PRECIP AMOUNTS OVERNIGHT AND WEDNESDAY. NO FORECAST
UPDATE PLANNED ATTM.

ANALYSIS/NEAR TERM...STRONGEST STORMS HAVE FOCUSED DEVELOPMENT OVR
SERN ND WHERE BEST LOW LEVEL INFLOWS AND SFC BASED INSTABILITIES
PEAKED THROUGH THE LATE AFTERNOON. THE MAIN 500MB LOW PRESSURE
CENTER IS SLOWLY DROPPING THROUGH SERN SASK WITH THE RUC INDICATING
A STRONG VORTICITY CENTER ROTATING UNDER THE LOW CENTER...INTO NWRN
ND. UPR LVL DYNAMICS ARE INCREASING OVR ERN ND AND NWRN MN IN
ADVANCE OF THIS SYSTEM ...WITH SHOWERS AND EMBEDDED THUNDERSTORMS
LIKELY TO CONTINUE ACROSS MUCH OF THE AREA OVERNIGHT AND INTO
WEDNESDAY. THE SEVERE WEATHER THREAT WILL DIMINISH OVR SERN ND WITH
NIGHTFALL...THOUGH HEAVY RAINS HAVE PRODUCED A BAND OF FROM 2 TO 3
INCHES OF RAIN ACROSS SARGENT COUNTY...AND FLASH FLOODING IS
POSSIBLE THROUGH THE LATE EVENING PERIOD THERE. ADDITIONAL HEAVY
RAIN IS EXPECTED TO DEVELOP INTO THE AREA LATER TONIGHT AND TOMORROW
AS THE LOW LEVEL JET INTENSIFIES THROUGH THE ERN DKTAS AND WRN MN.
UPR LVL DYNAMICS WILL REMAIN FOCUSED ACROSS ERN ND AND THE RRV
PRIMARILY WITH HEAVIEST RAINFALL EXPECTED ACROSS PORTIONS OF THE
SOUTHERN AND CENTRAL RED RIVER BASIN.

.FGF...FLOOD WATCH ALL OF ERN ND AND NW AND WCNTRL MN TONIGHT INTO
WEDNESDAY MORNING.

GUST

In the hours before

Local storm report, Jul 9, 7:14 PM CST, 3 hours 51 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GRAND FORKS, ND
814 PM CDT TUE JUL 9 2002

TIME(CDT)  .....CITY LOCATION.....STATE   ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

0743 PM    3 NE CRETE                ND   .88 INCH HAIL
07/09/02   SARGENT

0810 PM    3 W FORMAN                ND   1.50 INCH HAIL
07/09/02   SARGENT

GJG

Local storm report, Jul 9, 9:30 PM CST, 1 hour 35 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT ...AMMENDED EVENT SUMMARY
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GRAND FORKS, ND
1030 PM CDT TUE JUL 9 2002

TIME(CDT)  .....CITY LOCATION.....STATE   ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

0743 PM    3 NE CRETE                ND   .88 INCH HAIL
07/09/02   SARGENT

0810 PM    3 W FORMAN                ND   1.50 INCH HAIL
07/09/02   SARGENT                        HAIL UNTIL 817 PM.

0830 PM    FORMAN                    ND   WIND DAMAGE
07/09/02   SARGENT                        SEVERAL LARGE TREES DOWN.
                                          POWER LINES DOWN. EST
                                          80 MPH WIND GUSTS.

0840 PM    8 S CAYUGA                ND   .88 INCH HAIL
07/09/02   SARGENT

0840 PM    FORMAN                    ND   FLASH FLOODS
07/09/02   SARGENT                        STREET FLOODING. WATER
                                          BACKING UP AROUND SCHOOL.

0845 PM    8 SSW LIDGERWOOD          ND   .88 INCH HAIL
07/09/02   RICHLAND

GJG

The radar

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

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

7 flash flood, 1 flood. Local standard time, as filed.

Flash Flood, Polk

When: July 9, 11:05 PM CST to July 10, 1:05 AM CST
Where: Polk County, East Grand Forks
Reported by: GENERAL PUBLIC
Coordinates: 47.774, -96.402 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Street flooding was reported.

Flash Flood, Polk

When: July 9, 11:05 PM CST to July 10, 1:05 AM CST
Where: Polk County, Fisher
Reported by: NEWSPAPER
Coordinates: 47.774, -96.402 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

11.6 inches of rain were measured at a MN DOT RWIS station near Fisher. Numerous farm fields were flooded with water. Some county roads were also closed due to high water.

Flash Flood, Norman

When: July 10, 12:40 AM CST to 2:40 AM CST
Where: Norman County, Ada
Reported by: GENERAL PUBLIC
Coordinates: 47.327, -96.455 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Street flooding was reported in Ada.

Flash Flood, Norman

When: July 10, 1:00 AM CST to 3:00 AM CST
Where: Norman County, Hendrum
Reported by: GENERAL PUBLIC
Coordinates: 47.327, -96.455 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Water was reported to be over highway 75.

Flood, West Polk

When: July 10, 1:08 AM CST to July 20, 11:59 PM CST
Where: West Polk forecast zone
Reported by: NEWSPAPER
Coordinates: 47.774, -96.402 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Sections of cropland in the southwest portion of Polk county remained under lakes of water for days. Many acres of cropland were a total loss.

Flash Flood, Otter Tail

When: July 10, 10:00 AM CST to 12:00 PM CST
Where: Otter Tail County, Fergus Falls
Reported by: GENERAL PUBLIC
Coordinates: 46.409, -95.708 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Several county roads were covered with water and the westbound lane of Interstate 94 was also covered.

Flash Flood, Clay

When: July 10, 10:30 AM CST to 12:30 PM CST
Where: Clay County, Barnesville
Reported by: GENERAL PUBLIC
Coordinates: 46.892, -96.491 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

A highway underpass was flooded.

Flash Flood, Wilkin

When: July 10, 12:00 PM CST to 2:00 PM CST
Where: Wilkin County, 4 mi N of Foxhome
Reported by: GENERAL PUBLIC
Coordinates: 46.357, -96.468 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Four township roads were under water and one was washed out.

What these are

Flash Flood: Flooding that begins within six hours of the rain that causes it, or of a dam or levee failure or ice jam release, often with deadly speed.
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 Minnesota in 2002 Every state in 2002 This day in weather history Warnings in Minnesota, July 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: 5303645, 5303651, 5303646, 5303647, 5303652, 5303648, 5303649, 5303650.