1 flash flood, as filed by the National Weather Service.
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.
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.
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 New Orleans, LA wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Apr 7, 9:30 AM CST, 3 hours 30 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NEW ORLEANS/BATON ROUGE LA 1030 AM CDT MON APR 7 2003 WILL BE UPDATING THE TEXT PRODUCTS SOON AND GRAPHICAL PRODUCTS AS TIME ALLOWS. CONCERNS FOR BOTH SEVERE WEATHER AND FLOODING/FLASH FLOODING ARE THE MAIN FOCUS FOR THIS UPDATE. STALLED SURFACE BOUNDARY FROM COASTAL SOUTHWEST LA TO THE FLORIDA PARISHES OF SOUTHEAST LA TO NEAR HATTIESBURG MS WILL CONTINUE TO BE THE FOCUS OF STRONG TO SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS AND LOCAL TRAINING OF ECHOES TO PRODUCE VERY HEAVY RAINFALL. INITIAL SEVERE THREAT LOOKS TO BE MOSTLY HAIL GIVEN HISTORY THIS MORNING...BUT INCREASING MID LEVEL WIND FIELDS TOWARDS AFTERNOON WILL PRODUCE A DAMAGING WIND THREAT AS WELL. SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH 112 HAS BEEN ISSUED FOR ALL OF SOUTH LA AND MUCH OF SOUTH MS UNTIL 4 PM CDT. WILL ISSUE A FLOOD WATCH FOR AREAS ALONG AND NORTH OF PRESENT LOCATION OF SURFACE BOUNDARY TO INCLUDE METRO BATON ROUGE...THE NORTH SHORE OF LAKE PONTCHARTRAIN... AND SOUTHWEST MS AND PEARL RIVER COUNTY MS. THERE MAY BE 2 OR 3 ROUNDS OF HEAVY RAINFALL THROUGH TUESDAY MORNING...SO WILL ISSUE THE FLOOD WATCH THROUGH TONIGHT FOR NOW. EXPECT RAINFALL AMOUNTS OF 2 TO 4 INCHES WITH LOCAL AMOUNTS OF 5 OR 6 INCHES IN THE WATCH AREA. POPS AND RAINFALL AMOUNTS SHOULD BE QUITE A BIT LOWER SOUTH OF LAKE PONTCHARTRAIN AND ALONG THE MS COAST...BUT WILL HAVE TO MONITOR MESOSCALE FORCING IN CASE THE SURFACE BOUNDARY SLIPS SOUTH. MID AND UPPER LEVEL WIND MAXIMA AND ASSOCIATED SHORTWAVES WILL CONTINUE TO ACTIVATE THE CONVECTION. UPDATED ZONES...HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK...AND FLOOD WATCH WILL BE OUT SHORTLY. MCB 78/61/70/47 8+50 BTR 80/62/71/49 8+60 MSY 82/67/73/55 6981 GPT 77/66/74/52 6981 .NEW...NONE LA...FLOOD WATCH LAZ034>040-046>050. MS...FLOOD WATCH MSZ068>071-077. 22
LAZ034>040-046>050-056>070-MSZ068>071-077-080>082-080000- HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK...CORRECTION TO DAY ONE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NEW ORLEANS LA 1130 AM CDT MON APR 7 2003 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR SOUTHEAST LOUISIANA AND EXTREME SOUTHWEST AND COASTAL MISSISSIPPI. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS... THERE IS A SLIGHT RISK OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS THROUGH TONIGHT ACROSS ALL OF SOUTHEAST LOUISIANA AND SOUTH MISSISSIPPI. LARGE HAIL AND DAMAGING WIND GUSTS WILL BE THE PRIMARY THREATS...HOWEVER...AN ISOLATED TORNADO IS POSSIBLE. A VERY MOIST...WARM...AND UNSTABLE AIRMASS...COMBINED WITH A STALLED SURFACE BOUNDARY AND NUMEROUS UPPER LEVEL DISTURBANCES...WILL CONTINUE TO CAUSE SCATTERED TO NUMEROUS THUNDERSTORMS TODAY AND TONIGHT. HEAVY RAINFALL AND FLOODING... THUNDERSTORMS WILL HAVE THE POTENTIAL TO REPEAT OVER THE SAME AREAS THROUGH TONIGHT...MAINLY ACROSS AREAS OF SOUTHEAST LOUISIANA NORTH AND WEST OF LAKE PONTCHARTRAIN INCLUDING SOUTHWEST MISSISSIPPI AND PEARL RIVER COUNTY. RAINFALL AMOUNTS IN THESE AREAS WILL RANGE FROM 1 TO 3 INCHES WITH LOCALLY HIGHER AMOUNTS UP TO AROUND 5 INCHES POSSIBLE THROUGH EARLY TUESDAY MORNING. THE HEAVY RAIN WILL RESULT IN THE THREAT OF FLOODING OF SMALL STREAMS AND URBAN AREAS ALONG WITH FLASH FLOODING OF LOCALIZED AREAS. THE HEAVY RAIN WILL ALSO CAUSE NUMEROUS RIVERS TO RISE TO NEAR OR ABOVE FLOOD STAGE OVER THE NEXT SEVERAL DAYS. AREAS SOUTH OF LAKE PONTCHARTRAIN AND ALONG THE MISSISSIPPI COAST SHOULD RECEIVE LESS RAINFALL AND A RESULTANT LOWER THREAT OF FLOODING THROUGH TONIGHT. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...TUESDAY THROUGH SUNDAY THERE IS SLIGHT RISK OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS ON TUESDAY...MAINLY DURING THE MORNING HOURS...ACROSS AREAS SOUTH OF LAKE PONTCHARTRAIN AND EAST OF INTERSTATE 59. LOCALLY HEAVY RAINFALL IS ALSO POSSIBLE. A COLD FRONT WILL PUSH THROUGH COASTAL SECTIONS OF SOUTHEAST LOUISIANA AND MISSISSIPPI BY AFTERNOON. NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED TUESDAY AFTERNOON THROUGH SUNDAY. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... THE ACTIVATION OF STORM SPOTTERS...HAM RADIO OPERATORS AND EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT PERSONNEL...IN SUPPORT OF SEVERE WEATHER OPERATIONS...IS REQUESTED AT THIS TIME.
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 flash flood. Local standard time, as filed.
Three to four inches of rain fell in just a few hours causing flash flooding in areas of poor drainage. Several buildings and houses were flooded. A 12 year old boy playing in, or trying to cross a flooded creek with several other boys, was swept away and drowned.
As the offices recorded each death: direct deaths were caused by the weather itself, indirect ones by something it set in motion.
| Event | Date | Age | Sex | Where | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Flash Flood, Tangipahoa | 2003-04-07 | 12 | Male | In Water | Direct |
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Louisiana in 2003Every state in 2003This day in weather historyWarnings in Louisiana, April 2003
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: 5351915.