Flash Flood in Tennessee, May 26, 2002

Name: Flash Flood in Tennessee, May 26, 2002
Start: 2002-05-26T16:30
End: 2002-05-26T18:00
Location: Tennessee

May 26, 2002 · NWS MRX · 1 event in 1 county or zone

Residents were stranded in homes by flooding on lower Briceville road in northern portion of the county.

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it; 1 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: $6,000
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 1

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 MRX wrote it up.

Residents were stranded in homes by flooding on lower Briceville road in northern portion of the county.

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 Morristown, TN wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at May 26, 1:43 PM EST, 2 hours 47 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, May 26, 1:43 PM EST, 2 hours 47 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MORRISTOWN TN
243 PM EDT SUN MAY 26 2002

COLD FRONT IS NOT WELL DEFINED...BUT APPEARS TO BE FROM ACROSS SRN
PARTS OF KY OR NRN MIDDLE TN...THEN NE ACROSS ERN KY.  BEST COVERAGE
ON RADAR IS CURRENTLY OVER SRN PARTS OF THE CUMBERLAND PLATEAU...
MOVING SLOWLY EAST INTO THE SRN VALLEY COUNTIES.  ELSEWHERE...MAINLY
20-30% COVERAGE AT BEST.  THUS...WILL LIMIT POPS TONIGHT TO MAINLY
30%...AND CARRY FOR JUST THE EVENING HOURS.  EVENING CREW CAN MAKE
ADJUSTMENTS IF CONVECTION LINGERS BEYOND THIS TIMEFRAME.  A FEW
LOCATIONS WILL GET SOME BRIEF SOAKING RAINS WITH THESE STORMS...
BUT SEVERE THREAT SEEMS QUITE MINIMAL.

FOR THE HOLIDAY INTO TUESDAY NIGHT...THIS WEAK FRONTAL BOUNDARY
WASHES OUT ACROSS THE REGION...BUT THERE IS LINGERING MOISTURE AND
INSTABILITY EACH DAY.  THUS...FELT COMPELLED TO CARRY AT LEAST
TOKEN POPS FOR THE AFTERNOONS AND EVENINGS.

MOS TEMPS CLOSE AND GENERALLY ACCEPTED...AND FELT IT WAS TIME TO
STOP UNDERCUTTING MINS...GIVEN THE CURRENT DEWPOINTS AND MORE
CLOUDINESS FOR AT LEAST PART OF THE NIGHT.  WILL ALSO ADD SOME
PATCHY FOG TONIGHT WHERE BEST RAINS HAVE OCCURRED THIS AFTERNOON.
OTHERWISE...MY PRELIMINARY TEMPS/POPS FOLLOW FOR COORDINATION:

CHA  62/85/63/85/63  40/30/20/20/20
TYS  61/83/61/84/62  30/30/20/20/20
TRI  57/81/58/82/59  20/30/20/20/20
OQT  60/82/61/83/61  30/30/20/20/20

.MRX...
NC...NONE.
TN...NONE.
VA...NONE.

TG

The radar

The Knoxville radar (KMRX), 72 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 21:29 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

1 flash flood. Local standard time, as filed.

Flash Flood, Anderson

When: May 26, 4:30 PM EST to 6:00 PM EST
Where: Anderson County, North Central Portion
Property damage: $6,000
Reported by: LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates: 36.118, -84.198 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

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.

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

The same day elsewhere

Every storm in Tennessee in 2002 Every state in 2002 This day in weather history Warnings in Tennessee, 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: 5298005.