Flash Flooding in Kansas, March 4, 2004

Name: Flash Flooding in Kansas, March 4, 2004
Start: 2004-03-04T12:45
End: 2004-03-04T14:30
Location: Kansas

March 4, 2004 · NWS TOP · 3 events in 3 counties and zones

Heavy rains of 2 to 3 inches in a short period of time caused flash flooding in the listed counties. Some roads and bridges were washed out or damaged.

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: $40,000
Crop damage: $40,000
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 TOP wrote it up.

Heavy rains of 2 to 3 inches in a short period of time caused flash flooding in the listed counties. Some roads and bridges were washed out or damaged. Several vehicles were washed off roadways. A woman was trapped in her vehicle for several hours when she attempted to drive through water flowing across a roadway in Franklin county north of Lane. Considerable crop damage was also reported. This event was part of a widespread flood event listed separately.

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 Topeka, KS wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Mar 4, 3:59 AM CST, 8 hours 46 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Mar 4, 3:59 AM CST, 8 hours 46 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TOPEKA KANSAS
359 AM THU MAR 4 2004

.DISCUSSION...

MAIN CONCERNS ARE FLOODING POTENTIAL THIS AFTERNOON INTO TONIGHT WITH
POSSIBLY SOME ISOLATED SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS LATE AFTERNOON AND
EVENING.  BEYOND THIS TEMPERATURES TRENDS.

STRONG UPPER WAVE STARTING TO EJECT OUT OF SOUTHWEST AND MODELS
FAIRLY SIMILAR HAVE OPEN WAVE OVER TEXAS PANHANDLE BY 00Z THIS
EVENING. DIFFLUENT FLOW AHEAD OF FEATURE BY THIS EVENING.  UNTIL
THEN APPEARS TO BE MINOR SHORTWAVE ENERGY ALONG WITH INCREASING
ISENTROPIC LIFT FUELING PRECIPITATION OVER SOUTHERN PORTIONS OF
STATE AND SPREADING NORTH...NOW INTO EAST CENTRAL KANSAS.  EXPECT
THIS TO CONTINUE SPREADING NORTH TROUGH THE DAY.  COPIOUS MOISTURE
STREAMING NORTH OVER SURFACE BOUNDARY. WILL BE FOLLOWING GFS
SOLUTION FOR MOST PART BUT LEANING TOWARD COMPROMISE ON QPFS.
LOOKING FOR HALF INCH TO 1 INCH AMOUNTS OF RAINFALL OVER EAST
CENTRAL AND PARTS OF NORTHEAST KANSAS TODAY AND EQUAL AMOUNTS AGAIN
THIS EVENING WITH PRECIP TAPERING OFF SOME AFTER MIDNIGHT AS UPPER
LOW PUSHES ACROSS CWA AND SOME DRY SLOTTING POSSIBLE OVER EASTERN
PORTIONS OF CWA.  HAVE EXTEND THE PREVIOUS FLOOD WATCH FURTHER
WEST...AND HAVE CONTINUED UNTO 12Z FRIDAY AS RIVER RISES LAG
RUNOFF.  OTHER SHORT TERM PROBLEM THIS MORNING IS SOME PATCHY DENSE
FOG BUT PRECIP TO SPREAD NORTH AND HELP LIFT SOME.  TEMPWISE...HIGHS
NOT GOING TOO FAR LOWER 40S NORTH CENTRAL TO LOWER 50S SOUTHEAST
CORNER OF CWA. LATE AFTERNOON...EVENING POSSES SOME SEVERE POTENTIAL
GIVEN THE DIFFLUENCE ALOFT AND BOUNDARY...MORE ELEVATED SEVERE
POTENTIAL BUT RAINFALL MAY LIMIT.

TONIGHT...EXPECT PRECIP TO DIMINISH AS WAVE EJECTS AFTER
MIDNIGHT...TRAILING PRECIP OVER THE NORTHERN COUNTIES WILL STILL BE
ON THE MODERATE SIDE AND MODELS SHOW H850 MB 0 TO -2 DEGREE LINE
SLIPPING INTO NORTHERN COUNTIES.  KEPT THE RAIN SNOW MIX FOR NOW
OVER THE NORTH CENTRAL COUNTIES AND STILL MENTION SOME RAIN SNOW
CHANCE GENERALLY NORTHERN 2 TO 3 TIERS OF COUNTIES FRIDAY MORNING.
THINKING MODELS A LITTLE TOO COOL TO GO ALL SNOW FOR ANY LENGTH OF
TIME.  MODELS SHOWING LOW LEVELS REMAIN MOIST BEHIND SYSTEM ON
FRIDAY SO WILL HAVE SLOW DECREASE IN CLOUDS.  HIGHS MAINLY LOWER TO
MID 40S.

BEYOND FRIDAY...FLOW TURNS MORE NORTHWESTERLY ALOFT WITH SEVERAL
EMBEDDED IMPULSES MOVING IN THE FLOW...IN PARTICULAR SATURDAY INTO
SUNDAY. DEEPER MOISTURE AND LIFT FURTHER NORTH SO DRY FORECAST AT
THIS POINT. A BIT COOLER SUNDAY WITH HIGHS IN THE MID TO UPPER 40S.

MODERATION IN TEMPS MONDAY INTO WEDNESDAY AS FLOW BECOMES MORE ZONAL
AND THICKNESS RISE.  HIGHS MID 50S TUESDAY...MID TO UPPER 50S ON
WEDNESDAY.

&&

.TOP...WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...FLOOD WATCH IN EFFECT FOR AREAS
OF CWA GENERALLY ALONG AND EAST OF A ABILENE TO MARYSVILLE LINE FROM
NOON TODAY UNTIL 6 AM FRIDAY.

&&

PF

Hazardous weather outlook, Mar 4, 11:47 AM CST, 58 minutes before

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TOPEKA KS
1147 AM CST THU MAR 4 2004

KSZ008>012-020>024-026-034>040-054>056-058-059-042300-
ANDERSON-BROWN-CLAY-CLOUD-COFFEY-DICKINSON-DOUGLAS-FRANKLIN-GEARY-
JACKSON-JEFFERSON-LYON-MARSHALL-MORRIS-NEMAHA-OSAGE-OTTAWA-
POTTAWATOMIE-REPUBLIC-RILEY-SHAWNEE-WABAUNSEE-WASHINGTON-
INCLUDING THE CITIES OF...ABILENE...CLAY CENTER...CONCORDIA...
EMPORIA...HIAWATHA...JUNCTION CITY...LAWRENCE...MANHATTAN...
MARYSVILLE...OTTAWA AND TOPEKA
602 AM CST THU MAR 4 2004

THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR NORTH CENTRAL...NORTHEAST AND
EAST CENTRAL KANSAS.

.DAY ONE...THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT

A FLOOD WATCH IS POSTED FOR PORTIONS OF THE AREA FROM
THIS AFTERNOON THROUGH TONIGHT.  THE WATCH AREA IS GENERALLY ALONG
AND EAST OF A ABILENE...JUNCTION CITY TO MARYSVILLE LINE.  RAINFALL
AMOUNTS IN THE 3 TO 5 INCH RANGE ARE POSSIBLE IN THE WATCH AREA.
PLEASE REFER TO APPROPRIATE WATCH INFORMATION FOR MORE DETAILS.

THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE POSSIBLE OVER MUCH OF THE AREA THIS AFTERNOON
AND OVER EASTERN PORTIONS OF THE AREA TONIGHT.  ISOLATED SEVERE
THUNDERSTORMS WITH LARGE HAIL WILL BE POSSIBLE MAINLY THIS AFTERNOON
AND EVENING OVER PARTS OF NORTHEAST AND EAST CENTRAL KANSAS.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...FRIDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY

NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME.

.SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...

SPOTTERS MAY BE NEEDED LATER TODAY AND EARLY TONIGHT.

&&

MORE INFORMATION MAY BE OBTAINED AT THE FOLLOWING WEB PAGE:
   HTTP://WWW.CRH.NOAA.GOV/TOP  (ALL LOWER CASE)

In the hours before

Local storm report, Mar 4, 11:56 AM CST, 49 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TOPEKA KS
1156 AM CST THU MAR 04 2004

..TIME...   ...EVENT...     ...CITY LOCATION...      ...LAT.LON...
..DATE...   ....MAG....     ..COUNTY LOCATION...ST.. ...SOURCE....
            ..REMARKS..

1137 AM     FLASH FLOOD      LE ROY                  38.08N 95.63W
03/04/2004                   COFFEY             KS   LAW ENFORCEMENT

            COFFEY COUNTY LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICIALS REPORT SEVERAL
            ROADS IN THE COUNTY ARE BECOMING NEARLY IMPASSABLE FROM
            HEAVY RAIN.

&&

LWS

Local storm report, Mar 4, 12:29 PM CST, 16 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TOPEKA KS
1229 PM CST THU MAR 04 2004

..TIME...   ...EVENT...     ...CITY LOCATION...      ...LAT.LON...
..DATE...   ....MAG....     ..COUNTY LOCATION...ST.. ...SOURCE....
            ..REMARKS..

1226 PM     FLASH FLOOD      9 N BURLINGTON          38.32N 95.74W
03/04/2004                   COFFEY             KS   CO-OP OBSERVER

            SEVERAL ROADS UNDER WATER

&&

DS

The radar

The Pleasant Hill radar (KEAX), 111 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 18:45 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

3 flash flood. Local standard time, as filed.

Flash Flood, Anderson

When: March 4, 12:45 PM CST to 2:30 PM CST
Where: Anderson County, Garnett
Property damage: $7,000
Crop damage: $7,000
Reported by: NEWSPAPER
Coordinates: 38.214, -95.293 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Flash Flood, Coffey

When: March 4, 12:45 PM CST to 2:30 PM CST
Where: Coffey County, Burlington
Property damage: $25,000
Crop damage: $23,000
Reported by: NEWSPAPER
Coordinates: 38.237, -95.734 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Flash Flood, Franklin

When: March 4, 12:45 PM CST to 2:30 PM CST
Where: Franklin County, Ottawa
Property damage: $8,000
Crop damage: $10,000
Reported by: NEWSPAPER
Coordinates: 38.565, -95.286 (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 Kansas in 2004 Every state in 2004 This day in weather history Warnings in Kansas, March 2004

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: 5387806, 5387807, 5387808.