Flash Flooding and Hail in Mississippi, May 2 to 3, 2002

Name: Flash Flooding and Hail in Mississippi, May 2 to 3, 2002
Start: 2002-05-02T23:50
End: 2002-05-03T23:55
Location: Mississippi

May 2 to 3, 2002 · NWS MEG · 12 events in 10 counties and zones

7 flash flood, 3 hail, 2 lightning, as filed by the National Weather Service.

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it; 9 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: $51,000
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 12

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 Memphis, TN wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at May 2, 7:10 PM CST, 4 hours 40 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, May 2, 7:10 PM CST, 4 hours 40 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MEMPHIS TN
810 PM CDT THU MAY 2 2002

THUNDERSTORM CONFINED TO NORTH MISSISSIPPI THIS EVENING. SEVERE
THUNDERSTORM WATCH 213 HAS EXPIRED AND WILL NOT BE RENEWED AT THIS
TIME. UPDATED ZONES TO REMOVE MENTION OF WATCH AND REMOVE POPS FROM
NORTHERN PARTS OF FORECAST AREA.

.MEG...NONE.

In the hours before

Local storm report, May 2, 8:14 PM CST, 3 hours 36 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MEMPHIS TN
914 PM CDT THU MAY 02 2002

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

0327 PM    BETHEL SPRINGS            TN   1.00 INCH HAIL
05/02/02   MCNAIRY                        REPORTED BY SPOTTER.

0330 PM    HICKORY VALLEY            TN   0.75 INCH HAIL
05/02/02   HARDEMAN                       REPORTED BY POLICE.

0415 PM    COUNCE                    TN   0.75 INCH HAIL
05/02/02   HARDIN                         REPORTED BY HARDIN COUNTY
                                          SHERIFFS OFFICE.

0545 PM    MARVELL                   AR   0.75 INCH HAIL
05/02/02   PHILLIPS                       REPORTED BY POLICE.

0645 PM    BATESVILLE                MS   0.75 INCH HAIL
05/02/02   PANOLA                         REPORTED BY POLICE.

0800 PM    FURRS                     MS   1.75 INCH HAIL
05/02/02   PONTOTOC                       REPORTED BY HAM RADIO
                                          OPERATOR.

0804 PM    1W TUPELO                 MS   0.75 INCH HAIL
05/02/02   LEE(MS)                        REPORTED BY HAM RADIO
                                          OPERATOR.

0807 PM    TUPELO                    MS   1.00 INCH HAIL
05/02/02   LEE(MS)                        REPORTED BY LEE(MS)
                                          COUNTY EMA.

The radar

The Memphis radar (KNQA), 150 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 05:51 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

7 flash flood, 3 hail, 2 lightning. Local standard time, as filed.

Hail, Tallahatchie

When: May 2, 11:50 PM CST to May 3, 11:55 PM CST
Where: Tallahatchie County, Charleston
Measured: 0.88 in hail
Property damage: $50
Reported by: LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates: 34.000, -90.050

Hail, Lee

When: May 3, 12:38 AM CST to 12:45 AM CST
Where: Lee County, Saltillo
Measured: 1 in hail
Property damage: $100
Reported by: LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates: 34.383, -88.683

Hail, Itawamba

When: May 3, 12:55 AM CST to 1:00 AM CST
Where: Itawamba County, Ratliff
Measured: 1 in hail
Property damage: $100
Reported by: LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates: 34.400, -88.533

Lightning, Marshall

When: May 3, 8:00 AM CST to 8:05 AM CST
Where: Marshall County, Holly Spgs
Property damage: $10,000
Reported by: NEWSPAPER
Coordinates: 34.762, -89.503 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

The First United Methodist Church in Holly Springs was damaged by a lightning strike.

Flash Flood, Coahoma

When: May 3, 8:55 AM CST to 11:00 AM CST
Where: Coahoma County, Clarksdale
Property damage: $1,000
Reported by: LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates: 34.229, -90.603 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Several streets were flooded.

Flash Flood, Lafayette

When: May 3, 9:45 AM CST to 11:00 AM CST
Where: Lafayette County, Oxford
Property damage: $1,000
Reported by: LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates: 34.357, -89.485 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

A few streets were flooded.

Flash Flood, Panola

When: May 3, 9:45 AM CST to 11:00 AM CST
Where: Panola County, Batesville
Property damage: $1,000
Reported by: LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates: 34.364, -89.951 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Some streets were flooded.

Flash Flood, Union

When: May 3, 9:50 AM CST to 11:00 AM CST
Where: Union County, New Albany
Property damage: $1,000
Reported by: LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates: 34.491, -89.004 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Several roads were flooded.

Flash Flood, Lee

When: May 3, 9:55 AM CST to 11:00 AM CST
Where: Lee County, Tupelo
Property damage: $1,000
Reported by: LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates: 34.290, -88.680 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Some highways and roads were flooded.

Flash Flood, Pontotoc

When: May 3, 10:00 AM CST to 11:00 AM CST
Where: Pontotoc County, Pontotoc
Property damage: $1,000
Reported by: LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates: 34.225, -89.037 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Several roads were flooded.

Flash Flood, Itawamba

When: May 3, 10:00 AM CST to 11:00 AM CST
Where: Itawamba County, Mantachie
Property damage: $10,000
Reported by: LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates: 34.280, -88.361 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Several roads were washed out. Other roads were closed due to the flooding.

Lightning, Prentiss

When: May 3, 3:20 PM CST to 3:25 PM CST
Where: Prentiss County, Booneville
Property damage: $25,000
Reported by: NEWSPAPER
Coordinates: 34.618, -88.520 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

One building at the Northeast Mississippi Community College campus was damaged by a fire started by lightning.

What these are

Hail: Hail three-quarters of an inch or larger, or smaller hail that caused damage, filed with the largest stone measured.
Lightning: A lightning strike that killed, injured or caused damage.
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.

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

The same day elsewhere

Every storm in Mississippi in 2002 Every state in 2002 This day in weather history Warnings in Mississippi, 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: 5300167, 5300168, 5300169, 5300178, 5300170, 5300171, 5300172, 5300173, 5300174, 5300175, 5300176, 5300177.