Indiana, 2003

Flooding in Indiana, July 5 to 13, 2003

July 5 to 13, 2003 · NWS IND · 3 events in 3 counties and zones

From from the evening of July 4th and overnight July 5th, 8 to 13 inches of rain fell across parts of Howard, and Carroll counties as storms trained across that area. Numerous storms moved across this area as well through July 11th.

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it; 3 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
$24 million
Crop damage
$9.0 million
Events
3

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 IND wrote it up.

From from the evening of July 4th and overnight July 5th, 8 to 13 inches of rain fell across parts of Howard, and Carroll counties as storms trained across that area. Numerous storms moved across this area as well through July 11th. This caused record floods along Wildcat Creek from Kokomo to Lafayette. A hospital in Kokomo alone had 5 million dollars worth of damage. 823 homes in Howard County received damage with major damage to 232. Carroll county had damage to 197 homes and Tippecanoe around 300. Kokomo crested at 17.78 feet (FS - 10 feet) on the 5th, and Lafayette crested at 23.64 feet (FS - 10 feet)on the 7th.

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 Indianapolis, IN wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Jul 4, 2:20 PM EST, 10 hours 4 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jul 4, 2:20 PM EST, 10 hours 4 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE INDIANAPOLIS IN
220 PM EST FRI JUL 4 2003

THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE POSSIBLE THROUGH THE HOLIDAY WEEKEND.

THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE POSSIBLE TONIGHT OVER THE NORTH PART OF THE
AREA. THEY COULD BE SEVERE STORMS AND COULD PRODUCE HEAVY RAINFALL.

A COLD FRONT WAS FROM THE UPPER GREAT LAKES TO KANSAS THIS
AFTERNOON. SEVERAL SHORT WAVE TROUGHS WERE IN THE WESTERLY UPPER
FLOW OVER THE NORTHERN TIER OF STATES. AN MCS WAS OVER NORTHWEST
OHIO AND MOVING AWAY FROM THE AREA...BUT MORE STORMS WERE DEVELOPING
OVER NORTH ILLINOIS. THE AIR WAS EXTREMELY UNSTABLE OVER NORTH
INDIANA...CAPES ABOVE 3000 J/KG AND LIFTED INDEXES BELOW -10 C.
SEVERE STORMS MAY CLIP THE NORTH PART OF THE FORECAST AREA THIS
EVENING. PRECIPITABLE WATER WAS NEARLY 200 PERCENT OF NORMAL. WET
BULB ZEROS WERE ALSO HIGH. HEAVY RAINFALL WILL BE POSSIBLE OVER THE
NORTH PART OF THE AREA TONIGHT.

PREFER THE ETA MODEL. STRONGER WESTERLIES REMAIN TO OUR NORTH...SO
DO NOT SEE FRONTAL BOUNDARY GETTING AS FAR SOUTH AS GFS FORECASTS.
THREAT OF SEVERE WEATHER AND HEAVY RAINFALL WILL REMAIN OVER THE
NORTH PART OF THE AREA WITH EXTREME INSTABILITY AND HIGH
PRECIPITABLE WATER CONTINUING. BOUNDARY MAY HAVE SAGGED FAR ENOUGH
FOR SOME THUNDERSTORMS TO GET INTO THE SOUTH PART OF THE AREA.
BOUNDARY STILL IN THE AREA SUNDAY...SO WILL CONTINUE WITH A CHANCE
OF THUNDERSTORMS.

GUIDANCE TEMPERATURES LOOK REASONABLE. HAVE PUSHED HIGHS UP A BIT ON
SUNDAY WITH FORECAST OF BOUNDARY STILL TO THE NORTH OF THE AREA.

.IND...NONE

DS
Hazardous weather outlook, Jul 4, 3:01 PM EST, 9 hours 23 minutes before
INZ021-028>031-035>049-051>057-060>065-067>072-051100-

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE INDIANAPOLIS IN
301 PM EST FRI JUL 4 2003

...SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH NORTH HALF OF CENTRAL INDIANA UNTIL 800
PM TONIGHT...

THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR CENTRAL INDIANA.

.DAY ONE...TONIGHT

SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS ARE POSSIBLE OVER THE NORTH HALF OF CENTRAL
INDIANA...NORTH OF INTERSTATE 70...EARLY THIS EVENING. THE PRIMARY
THREAT WILL BE DAMAGING THUNDERSTORM WINDS. HEAVY RAINFALL WILL BE
POSSIBLE OVER THE NORTH PART OF CENTRAL INDIANA TONIGHT.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SATURDAY THROUGH FRIDAY

SEVERE STORMS WILL BE POSSIBLE OVER MUCH OF CENTRAL INDIANA ON
SATURDAY. DAMAGING THUNDERSTORM WINDS WILL AGAIN BE THE MAIN SEVERE
WEATHER THREAT. HEAVY RAINFALL WILL STILL BE POSSIBLE OVER THE NORTH
PART OF CENTRAL INDIANA SATURDAY. THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE POSSIBLE
SUNDAY...AND AGAIN TUESDAY AND WEDNESDAY.

TEMPERATURES AROUND 90 DEGREES AND DEW POINTS OF 70 TO 75 DEGREES
WILL CONTINUE TO PRODUCE AFTERNOON HEAT INDEXES OF AROUND 100 SUNDAY
AND MONDAY.

.SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...

SPOTTERS MAY BE NEEDED THIS EVENING AND AGAIN SATURDAY.

&&

MORE INFORMATION MAY BE OBTAINED AT THE FOLLOWING URL...

HTTP://WWW.CRH.NOAA.GOV/IND (ALL LOWER CASE)

In the hours before

Local storm report, Jul 4, 7:08 PM EST, 5 hours 16 minutes before
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE INDIANAPOLIS IN
0708 PM EST FRI JUL 04 2003

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

0630 PM    CARMEL                    IN   WIND DAMAGE
07/04/03   HAMILTON                       TREE DOWN 12 INCH
                                          DIAMETER.

XXX
Local storm report, Jul 4, 7:09 PM EST, 5 hours 15 minutes before
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE INDIANAPOLIS IN
0709 PM EST FRI JUL 04 2003

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

0630 PM    5 S LEBANON               IL   FUNNEL CLOUD
07/04/03   ST. CLAIR                      AT INTERSTATE 65 AND STATE
                                          ROAD 334.

XXX
Local storm report, Jul 4, 7:10 PM EST, 5 hours 14 minutes before
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE INDIANAPOLIS IN
0710 PM EST FRI JUL 04 2003

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

0709 PM    INDIANAPOLIS              IN   0.75 IN HAIL
07/04/03   MARION

CET
Special weather statement, Jul 4, 8:11 PM EST, 4 hours 13 minutes before
INZ021-028>031-035>042-050125-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE INDIANAPOLIS IN
811 PM EST FRI JUL 4 2003

SEVERE THUNDER WATCH NUMBER 636 HAS BEEN ALLOWED TO EXPIRE. A FEW
ADDITIONAL STORMS ARE POSSIBLE TONIGHT...BUT THE SEVERE THREAT HAS
DIMINISHED.

STAY TUNED TO NOAA WEATHER RADIO AND OTHER LOCAL MEDIA FOR FURTHER
DETAILS OR UPDATES.

KOCH
Special weather statement, Jul 4, 9:13 PM EST, 3 hours 11 minutes before
INZ043-044-046>049-051>057-060>065-067>072-050230-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE INDIANAPOLIS IN
913 PM EST FRI JUL 4 2003

SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH #638 THAT WAS IN EFFECT FOR...VERMILLION...
HENRY...PARKE...HANCOCK...MARION...HENDRICKS...RUSH...SHELBY...
JOHNSON...MORGAN...VIGO...CLAY...OWEN...DECATUR...BARTHOLOMEW...
BROWN...MONROE...SULLIVAN...JENNINGS...GREENE...JACKSON...LAWRENCE...
KNOX...MARTIN AND DAVIESS COUNTIES... HAS BEEN CANCELLED.

KOCH
Local storm report, Jul 4, 10:30 PM EST, 1 hour 54 minutes before
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE INDIANAPOLIS IN
1030 PM EST FRI JUL 04 2003

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

1018 PM    BATTLE GROUND             IN   WIND DAMAGE
07/04/03   TIPPECANOE                     TREES DOWN ALONG SR25

KOCH

The radar

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

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

3 flood. Local standard time, as filed.

Flood, Howard

When
July 5, 12:24 AM EST to July 11, 1:10 PM EST
Where
Howard forecast zone
Property damage
$18 million
Crop damage
$3.0 million
Reported by
OFFICIAL NWS OBS.
Coordinates
40.484, -86.117 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Flood, Carroll

When
July 5, 12:24 AM EST to July 11, 1:10 PM EST
Where
Carroll forecast zone
Property damage
$1.0 million
Crop damage
$3.0 million
Reported by
OFFICIAL NWS OBS.
Coordinates
40.583, -86.563 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Flood, Tippecanoe

When
July 5, 3:04 PM EST to July 13, 11:18 AM EST
Where
Tippecanoe forecast zone
Property damage
$5.0 million
Crop damage
$3.0 million
Reported by
OFFICIAL NWS OBS.
Coordinates
40.389, -86.894 (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

More

Every storm in Indiana in 2003Every state in 2003This day in weather historyWarnings in Indiana, July 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: 5373885, 5373886, 5373887.