Flash Flooding and Heavy Rain in Kentucky, August 26, 2005

Name: Flash Flooding and Heavy Rain in Kentucky, August 26, 2005
Start: 2005-08-26T07:40
End: 2005-08-26T12:00
Location: Kentucky

August 26, 2005 · NWS PAH · 3 events in 3 counties and zones

2 flash flood, 1 heavy rain, as filed by the National Weather Service.

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: $350,000
Crop damage: None recorded
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 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 Paducah, KY wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Aug 26, 1:00 AM CST, 6 hours 40 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Aug 26, 1:00 AM CST, 6 hours 40 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PADUCAH KY
200 AM CDT FRI AUG 26 2005

.DISCUSSION...

04Z SURFACE ANALYSIS SHOWS WARM FRONT TO OUR SOUTH AND WEST...WITH
MESO TROF OVER PAH FA...IN ASSOCIATION W/ MCV INITIATED CONVECTION
OCCURRING OVER NRN/NERN PTNS FA. MODELS HAVE SOME DIFFICULTY PICKING
UP VORT BUT DO DECENT JOB MODELING CONVECTIVE AREA...ALTHOUGH PMDHMD
POINTS OUT GFS FEEDBACK. BASIC MODEL LINE IS FOR TSMS TO MOVE EAST
AND EXPAND SOUTHWARD TOO. THIS WILL GIVE HIGHEST POPS NE-SE EARLY
TODAY...THEN AS ATMOS JUICES UP...SCT PM STORMS POSSIBLE AGAIN. WILL
NOT HAVE MUCH OF A TAPER OF POPS...HIGH CHANCE TO LOW LIKELY
FA-WIDE...WITH THE SAME GOING FOR TONIGHT.

ON SATURDAY...THE MODELS ALL DRAG A COLD FRONT THRU THE FA. THE ETA
IS SLOWER AND LINGERS PCPN LONGER...WHILE THE GFS IS MORE AGGRESSIVE
IN THE PUSH OF THE FRONT AND ASSOCIATED CONVECTION THRU THE FA. WE
OPTED FOR A MIDDLE GROUND APPROACH IF NOT LEANING ON THE ETA...GIVEN
THE DIFFICULTY THE LAST SUCH FRONT HAD MAKING IT THRU THE FA. PLUS
WE WL BE HAVING BY THEN KATRINA REMNANTS TO DEAL WITH...WHICH MAY
EFFECTIVELY SLOW DOWN EWARD PROGRESS OF SAID FRONT. MOS POPS ARE ALL
HIGH FOR SAT WITH THE FRONT IN PLAY...THEN WE WE END THE POPS SLOWLY
SAT NIGHT...AS WE GET BEHIND THE FRONT BY SUNDAY.

WE DECIDED TO KEEP THE FORECAST DRY SUNDAY-THURSDAY...ALTHOUGH ONE
COULD ARGUE FOR A SLIGHT CHANCE ON ANY NUMBER OF TIME PERIODS.
CAUTIOUSLY BUYING THE GFS SUGGESTS A MAINLY DRY MEDIUM TO LONG RANGE
FORECAST...W/KATRINA STAYING EAST AND MINOR RIDGING/DRIER AIR IN
PLACE OVER THE LOWER OH VALLEY THRU THE TIME PERIOD.

WE FAVOR WARMER MOS UNTIL FROPA...AFTER WHICH WE BLEND INTO THE LONG
RANGE GUIDANCE...ALTHOUGH WE DONT QUITE BUY (JUST YET) THE FULL
EXTENT OF THE DRIER/COOLER AIR THE GFS WANTS TO SINK INTO THE AREA.

&&

.PAH WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
KY...NONE.
MO...NONE.
IL...NONE.
IN...NONE.
&&

Hazardous weather outlook, Aug 26, 2:53 AM CST, 4 hours 47 minutes before

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PADUCAH KY
353 AM CDT FRI AUG 26 2005

ILZ075>078-080>094-INZ081-082-085>088-KYZ001>022-MOZ076-086-087-
100-107>112-114-270900-
JEFFERSON-WAYNE IL-EDWARDS-WABASH-PERRY IL-FRANKLIN-HAMILTON-
WHITE-JACKSON-WILLIAMSON-SALINE-GALLATIN-UNION IL-JOHNSON-POPE-
HARDIN-ALEXANDER-PULASKI-MASSAC-GIBSON-PIKE-POSEY-VANDERBURGH-
WARRICK-SPENCER-FULTON-HICKMAN-CARLISLE-BALLARD-MCCRACKEN-GRAVES-
LIVINGSTON-MARSHALL-CALLOWAY-CRITTENDEN-LYON-TRIGG-CALDWELL-
UNION KY-WEBSTER-HOPKINS-CHRISTIAN-HENDERSON-DAVIESS-MCLEAN-
MUHLENBERG-TODD-PERRY MO-BOLLINGER-CAPE GIRARDEAU-WAYNE MO-CARTER-
RIPLEY-BUTLER-STODDARD-SCOTT-MISSISSIPPI-NEW MADRID-
INCLUDING THE CITIES OF...MOUNT VERNON...FAIRFIELD...ALBION...
MOUNT CARMEL...PINCKNEYVILLE...WEST FRANKFORT...MCLEANSBORO...
CARMI...CARBONDALE...MURPHYSBORO...HERRIN...HARRISBURG...
SHAWNEETOWN...JONESBORO...VIENNA...GOLCONDA...ELIZABETHTOWN...
CAIRO...MOUND CITY...METROPOLIS...FORT BRANCH...PETERSBURG...
POSEYVILLE...EVANSVILLE...BOONVILLE...ROCKPORT...HICKMAN...
CLINTON...BARDWELL...WICKLIFFE...PADUCAH...MAYFIELD...SMITHLAND...
BENTON...MURRAY...MARION...EDDYVILLE...CADIZ...PRINCETON...
MORGANFIELD...DIXON...MADISONVILLE...HOPKINSVILLE...HENDERSON...
OWENSBORO...CALHOUN...GREENVILLE...ELKTON...PERRYVILLE...
MARBLE HILL...CAPE GIRARDEAU...JACKSON...PIEDMONT...VAN BUREN...
DONIPHAN...POPLAR BLUFF...BLOOMFIELD...SIKESTON...CHARLESTON...
NEW MADRID
353 AM EST FRI AUG 26 2005 /353 AM CDT FRI AUG 26 2005/

THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF SOUTHERN
ILLINOIS...SOUTHEAST MISSOURI...WESTERN KENTUCKY...AND
SOUTHWEST INDIANA.

.DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT

THERE IS A SLIGHT CHANCE OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS TODAY AND
TONIGHT. THE MAIN THREAT WITH ANY THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE DAMAGING
WINDS. LOCALLY HEAVY RAINS ARE ALSO POSSIBLE.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SATURDAY THROUGH THURSDAY

THUNDERSTORMS ARE FORECAST SATURDAY AND SATURDAY NIGHT AS A COLD
FRONT MOVES THROUGH THE QUAD STATE. WHILE NO SEVERE WEATHER IS
FORECAST...THAT WOULD BE THE BEST CHANCE TIME PERIOD FOR ANY
HAZARDOUS WEATHER.

.SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...

SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY BE REQUESTED TODAY.

The radar

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

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

2 flash flood, 1 heavy rain. Local standard time, as filed.

Flash Flood, Hopkins

When: August 26, 7:40 AM CST to 9:40 AM CST
Where: Hopkins County, Madisonville
Property damage: $250,000
Reported by: LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates: 37.309, -87.541 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Flooding was particularly severe around the Parkway Plaza Mall off of the Pennyrile Parkway. At least six businesses in the mall area sustained flood damage. Several inches of water covered the floor of one business. Local police reported one and a half feet of water flowing down the main street through Madisonville. Local officials reported nearly four inches of rain fell during the day, mostly in the morning.

Heavy Rain, Muhlenberg

When: August 26, 8:10 AM CST to 9:40 AM CST
Where: Muhlenberg County, Central City
Reported by: UNKNOWN
Coordinates: 37.117, -87.867

Low-lying areas were flooded in Central City.

Flash Flood, Caldwell

When: August 26, 9:00 AM CST to 12:00 PM CST
Where: Caldwell County, Princeton
Property damage: $100,000
Reported by: NEWSPAPER
Coordinates: 37.333, -87.500

Much of Princeton was underwater after local residents reported five to six inches of rainfall in less than two hours. Yards and streets were left flooded and impassable. In one of the hardest hit neighborhoods, waist-deep water kept a street closed for hours after the rain stopped. About a dozen streets, including some main arteries such as Kentucky 91, were closed. A number of vehicles stalled in the flooding. City workers helped stranded motorists out of the flooding. Several buildings sustained flood damage, which was aggravated by waves in the wake of passing vehicles. About 18 inches of water backed up into a laundromat. Three to four inches of water covered a factory warehouse floor, causing an estimated 10,000 dollars in damage. Water entered fewer than a dozen houses, mostly flooding basements. In one house, the basement filled up, and water spilled onto the first floor. At the local electric plant, floodwater from Eddy Creek was chest-deep in the plant's storage yard, and water entered garages where trucks are parked. At the city's hospital, a basement filled with water, which was pumped out by the fire department. The flooding was described by an emergency management director as the city's worst flooding in 18 years.

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.
Heavy Rain: Rainfall totals unusual for the place and season that did not produce a flood.

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

The same day elsewhere

Every storm in Kentucky in 2005 Every state in 2005 This day in weather history Warnings in Kentucky, August 2005

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: 5473758, 5473759, 5472592.