Flood in Delaware, June 20 to 21, 2003

Name: Flood in Delaware, June 20 to 21, 2003
Start: 2003-06-20T13:35
End: 2003-06-21T13:02
Location: Delaware

June 20 to 21, 2003 · NWS PHI · 1 event in 1 county or zone

A slow moving low pressure system at both the surface and aloft helped trigger very heavy rain across New Castle County from the late morning into the afternoon 20th. 0 inches north, most of which fell during the afternoon.

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

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The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: None recorded
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 PHI wrote it up.

A slow moving low pressure system at both the surface and aloft helped trigger very heavy rain across New Castle County from the late morning into the afternoon 20th. Storm totals ranged from 1.5 inches south to 4.0 inches north, most of which fell during the afternoon. Without any thunder, New Castle County Airport received 1.10 inches of rain in one hour from 323 p.m. until 423 p.m. EDT. The heavy rain led to widespread poor drainage flooding as well as flooding of most of the gaged rivers and streams in the county. The Delaware Department of Traffic closed about sixteen main roads throughout the county. They ran short of high water signs. Southbound U.S. Route 13 near U.S. Route 40 was at a standstill through the evening commute. Throughout the county, cars were stranded in high water. Flooding forced the evacuation of three families from the Brack-Ex development after Conectiv cut off power. The water saturated soil plus the flooding caused trees to fall. About 14,000 Conectiv customers lost power. No serious injuries were reported. The Christina River at Coochs Bridge was above its 9 foot flood stage from 235 p.m. EDT on the 20th through 247 a.m. EDT on the 21st. It crested at 12.01 feet at 830 p.m. EDT on the 20th. The White Clay Creek at Newark was above its 13 foot flood stage from 413 p.m. EDT on the 20th through 455 a.m. EDT on the 21st. It crested at 14.97 feet at 815 p.m. EDT on the 20th. The Red Clay Creek at Wooddale was above its 5.5 foot flood stage from 400 p.m. EDT on the 20th through 441 a.m. EDT on the 21st. It crested at 9.98 feet at 745 p.m. EDT on the 20th. Farther downstream, the Red Clay Creek at Stanton was above its 15 foot flood stage from 415 p.m. EDT on the 20th through 504 a.m. EDT on the 21st. It crested at 18.46 feet at 1030 p.m. EDT on the 20th. The Brandywine Creek in Wilmington was above its 11 foot flood stage from 511 a.m. EDT through 207 p.m. EDT on the 21st. It crested at 11.81 feet at 2 p.m. EDT on the 21st. Storm totals included 3.59 inches at the New Castle County Airport, 3.30 inches in Newark and 2.63 inches in Bear. The low pressure system responsible for the heavy rain formed along a stationary front over the Carolinas during the morning of the 20th. It moved to just east of Wallops Island, Virginia during the evening of the 20th and well east of the Delmarva Peninsula during the morning of the 21st. An inverted trough at the surface that extended from the low north into Chesapeake Bay and Eastern Pennsylvania concentrated the heavy rain along its axis. June as a whole was an unseasonably wet month. On a county weighted average, June monthly precipitation totals averaged 9.5 inches in New Castle County. Normal is around 3.6 inches. The June monthly precipitation total of 9.90 inches at the New Castle County Airport was the wettest on record. The wet spring weather led to a whole different set of problems from the drought of the previous year. Planted seeds were drowning and rotting. Tobacco farmers were worrying about mold. Many soybean, corn and berry fields were too wet. There were also problems with slugs. Vegetables were generally about a month behind. Double crop fields fell behind schedule because of the slow growth of straw and hay. Garden shops sales have been down. Pool installations were about three to six weeks behind. Ant infestations increased. Windshield wipers were tearing. Many spring athletic seasons were extended because of postponed events. There will be a bumper crop of mosquitoes. Attendance along the shore and at amusement parks was down. Road work was delayed. The one few positives from the wet weather was lower utility bills.

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 Philadelphia/Mount Holly wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Jun 20, 10:33 AM EST, 3 hours 2 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jun 20, 10:33 AM EST, 3 hours 2 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION...UPDATED
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MOUNT HOLLY NJ
1133 AM EDT FRI JUN 20 2003

MINOR CHANGES MADE TO PREV FCST. ENERGY ROTATING AROUND CUTTING OFF LOW
AT MID LEVELS ON WATER VAPOR IMAGERY...AND THE 12Z ETA IS LOOKING QUITE
LIKE THE 06Z GFS WITH REGARDS TO THE H8 TO H5 OMEGA FIELD. USED THOSE
TO MODIFY ONSET OF PCPN TIMING FOR SERN AND ERN ZONES WHERE RAIN HAS
NOT YET BEGUN. LEAST LIKELY PLACE FOR CONVECTION IS OVER THE NRN NJ
COAST AND ADJACENT INLAND COUNTIES...BUT DONT FEEL COMFORTABLE ABOUT
REMOVING MENTION OF A CHANCE. WE KEPT THE FLOOD WATCH GOING...GOOD H8
DWPTS AND DECENT PWATER VALUES...AND CONVECTION THAT MAKES IT INTO AT
LEAST WRN PORTION OF FA SHOULD CAUSE ROBUST RAINFALLS. SOME SMALL
TWEAKS TO TEMPERATURES. OTHERWISE NO CHANGES. STILL NO FLAGS ON THE
MARINE. BULK OF PREV AFD IS BELOW.

.PHI...FLOOD WATCH THROUGH SATURDAY FOR PAZ054-055-060>062-067>071-
NJZ001-007>010-012>027-DEZ001>004-MDZ008-012-015-019-020.

MARINE...NONE.

MPD

**********************************************************************

THE FIRST ROUND OF SIG RAIN OCCURRED OVR NWRN PTNS OF THE CWA THU
EVENING AS CONVTN FIRED ALG FNT IN CONCERT WITH DIURNAL HTG AND S/WV
ALF. OTHER ROUNDS OF RAIN/TSTMS ARE FCST TDA AND AGAIN SAT. THUS...
THE FLD WATCH WL STAY UP AND IN FACT BE EXTDD THRU SAT IN VIEW OF
THE INGREDIENTS COMING TOGETHER FOR THIS APRNTLY PROLONGED EVENT.
UPPER LO IS CLOSING OFF...AND HPC AND OTHERS ARE FAVORING THE
ETA/NGM SOLN OF A MORE SLY LOCN. THIS WUD SHIFT THE FOCUS OF HVY
RAIN FURTHER S ON SAT...THUS THE NEED TO EXTND THE WATCH THRU SAT.

FOR TDA...WITH THE DSIPTN OF THE AFOREMENTIONED BAND OF RW/TRW...
WE/LL KEEP IN A CHC OF SHWRS FOR THE MRNG...RADAR SHOWING RENEWED
ACTIVITY NWRN AREAS...AND THEN GO WITH CAT RAIN HVY AT TIMES WITH
CHC TSTMS FM LATE MRNG INTO THE EVENING AS FIRST SFC LO MOVS UP THE
CST ALG THE OLD BCLINIC BNDRY. THEN WL CONT WITH CAT RAIN/SHWRS LATE
TNGT AND SAT...WITH SHWRS LIKELY SAT NITE. WL CONT THE CHC SHWRS SUN
AS UPR LO MAY TRY TO MOV A BIT EWD.

RE QPF/S...ETA IS CRANKING OUT A BIT OVR 4 INCHES. WL HALVE THIS FOR
WDSPRD AMTS BUT LCL AMTS MAY APCH THE HIR FIGURE IF ALL INGREDIENTS
COME TOGETHER...SUCH AS FAVBL UPPER WINDS/JET DYNAMICS INTERACTING
WITH LO LVL BNDRYS. PSBL THAT NWRN ZONES ARE DESTINED TO GET MOST QPF
IF TERRAIN EFX CAN COME INTO PLAY. HPC/S DISC IS SIMILAR TO OUR
THINKING...IS THAT A GOOD SIGN OR NOT?

TEMPS...PBLY NOT MUCH DIURNAL RANGE TDA/SAT WITH LOTS OF CLDS/PCPN.
USED A BLEND OF STAT GUIDANCE. IF WE GET MORE SUN SUNDAY TEMPS ARE
LIKELY TO RESPOND...BUT I SHAVED OFF A BIT FRM FWC/S ANYWAY. WL
FIGURE ON MID/UPR 70S SUN.

ON MARINE...WL KEEP A HEADLINE THAT SCA MAY BE NEEDED FOR SEAS TNGT
ON THE OCEAN.

Hazardous weather outlook, Jun 20, 4:50 AM EST, 8 hours 45 minutes before

DEZ001>004-MDZ008-012-015-019-020-NJZ001-007>010-012>027-PAZ054-055-
060>062-067>071-201200-

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK...UPDATED
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MOUNT HOLLY NJ
550 AM EDT FRI JUN 20 2003

THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR EAST CENTRAL AND SOUTHEAST
PENNSYLVANIA...DELAWARE...THE NORTHERN MARYLAND EASTERN SHORE...AND
NEW JERSEY EXCLUDING THE FIVE NORTHEAST COUNTIES.

.DAY ONE...TODAY

A FLOOD WATCH IS IN EFFECT FOR THE ENTIRE AREA TODAY AND TONIGHT.
RAIN...HEAVY AT TIMES...COULD PRODUCE FLOODING ESPECIALLY ALONG
SMALL STREAMS AND CREEKS...IN URBAN AREAS..AND IN POOR DRAINAGE
LOCATIONS. SEE FLOOD WATCH STATEMENT UNDER WMO HEADER /WGUS61 KPHI/
FOR MORE DETAILS.

THERE IS A LOW TO OCCASIONALLY MODERATE RISK FOR RIP CURRENTS TODAY
DURING RISING TIDE ALONG THE NEW JERSEY AND DELAWARE COASTS.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...

THE FLOOD WATCH WILL CONTINUE SATURDAY. RAIN HEAVY AT TIMES WILL
CONTINUE SATURDAY...AND POSSIBLY INTO SATURDAY NIGHT...AND COULD
PRODUCE ADDITIONAL FLOODING PROBLEMS ESPECIALLY ALONG SMALL STREAMS
AND IN URBAN AREAS WITH POOR DRAINAGE. SCATTERED SHOWERS MAY LINGER
SUNDAY AS WELL.

.SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...

SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT ANTICIPATED.

The radar

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

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

1 flood. Local standard time, as filed.

Flood, New Castle

When: June 20, 1:35 PM EST to June 21, 1:02 PM EST
Where: New Castle forecast zone
Reported by: EMERGENCY MANAGER
Coordinates: 39.578, -75.639 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

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 Delaware in 2003 Every state in 2003 This day in weather history Warnings in Delaware, June 2003

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: 5364130.