Flash Flood in Arkansas, August 11, 2008

Name: Flash Flood in Arkansas, August 11, 2008
Start: 2008-08-11T06:15
End: 2008-08-11T09:15
Location: Arkansas

August 11, 2008 · NWS SHV · 1 event in 1 county or zone

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it. 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: $100,000
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 SHV wrote it up.

An upper level ridge which was located across the central and southern plains over the last couple of weeks and resulted in triple digit temperatures across much of the region finally moved west into the inter-mountain west. As a result, southwest Arkansas and northeast Louisiana was put in a more favorable storm pattern being east of the upper level ridge axis. Numerous showers and thunderstorms developed across the southern plains during the overnight hours of August 10th and moved southeast into southwest Arkansas and north central and northeast Louisiana during the morning hours of August 11th. Widespread flooding was reported across much of the region. During the afternoon with heating of the day, strong to severe thunderstorms developed across portions of north central and northeast Louisiana. These storms produced strong and damaging wind gusts which downed trees and power lines in a few locations.

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 Shreveport, LA wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Aug 11, 1:55 AM CST, 4 hours 20 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Aug 11, 1:55 AM CST, 4 hours 20 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SHREVEPORT LA
255 AM CDT MON AUG 11 2008

.DISCUSSION...

WATER VAPOR IMAGERY SHOWS ELONGATED UPPER RIDGE CENTERED OVER
BAJA/SONORA...ALLOWING FOR NW FLOW ALOFT FM THE TEXAS PANHANDLE THRU
THE FOUR-STATE AREA.  A LARGE...DECAYING MCS WAS NOTED OVER KLBB AND
VICINITY...WHILE CLOSER TO HOME...ANOTHER WAS DEVELOPING OVER SE OK
TO BRING IN THE NEXT SHOT OF RAIN.  24-HR MPE ESTIMATES NOTE THAT
THE BULK OF HEAVIEST PRECIP FELL JUST NE OF THE CWA IN AR...ALSO
REFLECTED IN THE LATEST FFG.  THUS...WE/LL AGAIN HOLD OFF ON ISSUING
A FLASH FLOOD WATCH FOR NOW.  REPEATED MCS DEVELOPMENT HAS MADE THE
GFS SOMEWHAT NOISY...BUT LATEST RUN HINTS AT A SECOND ONE DEVELOPING
AGAIN TONIGHT AND FOLLOWING THE FIRST...SO DAY SHIFT WILL NEED TO
RE-ASSESS THE POTENTIAL FOR A WATCH THEN.  STILL...00Z KSHV RAOB
SHOWED AMS WELL ON ITS WAY TO SATURATION...AND FCST SOUNDINGS SHOW
PWATS MAXING OUT AT AROUND 2.7IN IN NW LA LATE TONIGHT...SO WE/LL
CONTINUE MENTIONING HEAVY RAINFALL IN THE GRIDS THRU TUESDAY MORNING
WHEN SECOND PROGGED MCS EXITS.  OTHERWISE...WEDNESDAY STILL LOOKS
DRY...SAME FOR MAYBE SOME LINGERING ACTIVITY TO THE SOUTH ON
RESIDUAL BOUNDARIES.  THURSDAY...LARGE TROUGH BEGINS DIGGING INTO
THE SOUTHERN PLAINS...W/SUBTLE SHORTWAVES PRECEDING IT...AND PUSHES
A FRONT THRU THE AREA LATE FRIDAY/EARLY SATURDAY.  FCST
SOUNDINGS/SHEAR PROGS ALONG THE FRONT SUGGEST FRIDAY NIGHT COULD SEE
A FEW SEVERE STORMS...BUT THAT CAN BE FURTHER ASSESSED AS THE WEEK
PROGRESSES.  OTHERWISE...TEMPS WILL BE TRICKY AGAIN TODAY...BUT THE
LOWER SIDE OF GUIDANCE LOOKS REASONABLE THRU WEDNESDAY...W/MAYBE A
BRIEF WARMUP THURSDAY BEFORE INCOMING TROUGH/FRONT TAKES TEMPS BACK
BELOW NORMAL FOR FRIDAY AND THE WEEKEND.

&&

.AVIATION...

NW FLOW ALOFT ALLOWING CONVECTIVE SYSTEMS TO ROLL INTO AREA. SFC
FRONTAL BOUNDARY OVER AREA NEAR I 20. S WINDS S OF FRONT...E WINDS N
OF FRONT. SHOWERS AND ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS WILL CONTINUE THROUGH
12/06Z. EXPECT MVFR CONDITIONS WITH MORNING PRECIP...PROBABLY VFR
DURING MIDDAY THROUGH EVENING PRECIP. ALSO THIS MORNING WILL SEE
PATCHY IFR CIGS. PRECIP AREA ATTM MAINLY N OF A LINE FROM
CLARKSVILLE TX TO SHV TO AEX. THIS PRECIP AREA WILL GRADUALLY PUSH
SOUTHWARD THROUGH THE DAY. /17/

&&

.PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS...
SHV  83  73  86  71  90 / 100  60  80   0  10
MLU  80  71  82  69  91 / 100  60  90  30  10
DEQ  80  70  88  65  90 / 100  60  40   0   0
TXK  80  71  87  69  90 / 100  70  60   0   0
ELD  78  70  84  65  87 / 100  80  70   0   0
TYR  87  75  88  71  89 /  60  60  50   0   0
GGG  87  74  86  69  88 /  70  60  60   0   0
LFK  92  75  88  73  89 /  60  60  70  20  10

&&

.SHV WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
AR...NONE.
LA...NONE.
OK...NONE.
TX...NONE.
&&

17/44

Hazardous weather outlook, Aug 11, 5:00 AM CST, 1 hour 15 minutes before

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SHREVEPORT LA
600 AM CDT MON AUG 11 2008

ARZ050-051-059>061-070>073-LAZ001>006-010>014-017>022-OKZ077-TXZ096-
097-108>112-124>126-136>138-149>153-165>167-111700-
ANGELINA-BIENVILLE-BOSSIER-BOWIE-CADDO-CALDWELL-CAMP-CASS-CHEROKEE-
CLAIBORNE-COLUMBIA-DE SOTO-FRANKLIN-GRANT-GREGG-HARRISON-HEMPSTEAD-
HOWARD-JACKSON-LA SALLE-LAFAYETTE-LINCOLN-LITTLE RIVER-MARION-
MCCURTAIN-MILLER-MORRIS-NACOGDOCHES-NATCHITOCHES-NEVADA-OUACHITA-
PANOLA-RED RIVER LA-RED RIVER TX-RUSK-SABINE LA-SABINE TX-
SAN AUGUSTINE-SEVIER-SHELBY-SMITH-TITUS-UNION AR-UNION LA-UPSHUR-
WEBSTER-WINN-WOOD-
600 AM CDT MON AUG 11 2008

THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR SOUTHEAST
OKLAHOMA...SOUTHWEST ARKANSAS...NORTHEAST AND DEEP EAST TEXAS...AND
FOR NORTHWEST AND NORTH CENTRAL LOUISIANA.

.DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT...

THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE LIKELY TODAY AND TONIGHT.  ANY THUNDERSTORMS
THAT DO DEVELOP WILL BE ACCOMPANIED BY HEAVY RAINFALL AND FREQUENT
LIGHTNING.  SOME LOCATIONS IN SOUTHEAST OKLAHOMA...SOUTHWEST
ARKANSAS...AND NORTH CENTRAL LOUISIANA COULD RECIEVE 3 TO 4 INCHES OF
RAINFALL BY TUESDAY MORNING...WILL ISOLATED AMOUNTS OF 5 INCHES.
HEAVY RAINFALL MAY AT TIMES LEAD TO PONDING ON ROADWAYS. OTHERWISE...
NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...TUESDAY THROUGH SUNDAY...

A SERIES OF UPPER LEVEL DISTURBANCES WILL CONTINUE TO MOVE TO THE
SOUTHEAST THROUGH THE SOUTHERN PLAINS TUESDAY.  AS A RESULT...
THUNDERSTORMS WILL REMAIN LIKELY AT TIMES TUESDAY...BEFORE
TAPERING OFF TUESDAY EVENING.  ANY THUNDERSTORMS THAT DO DEVELOP WILL
BE ACCOMPANIED BY FREQUENT LIGHTNING AND VERY HEAVY RAINFALL.  BY
TUESDAY...SOILS MAY BE SATURATED ENOUGH TO RESULT IN A FLASH FLOOD
THREAT FROM ANY ADDITIONAL RAINFALL...ESPECIALLY IN SOUTHEAST
OKLAHOMA...SOUTHWEST ARKANSAS...AND NORTH CENTRAL LOUISIANA.  HEAVY
RAINFALL MAY LEAD TO PONDING ON ROADWAYS AT TIMES.  OTHERWISE...NO
HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME.

.SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...

STORM SPOTTER...HAM RADIO OPERATOR...AND EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT
ACTIVATION SHOULD NOT BE NEEDED TODAY OR TONIGHT.

44

In the hours before

Local storm report, Aug 11, 5:59 AM CST, 16 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SHREVEPORT LA
659 AM CDT MON AUG 11 2008

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

0615 AM     HEAVY RAIN       2 WNW MONROE            32.52N 92.12W
08/11/2008  M5.25 INCH       OUACHITA           LA   TRAINED SPOTTER

            OCCURRED IN PAST 6 HOURS. FLOODING LOCALIZED TO BACKED-UP
            STORM SEWERS AND YARD FLOODING.

&&

JD

Local storm report, Aug 11, 6:00 AM CST, 15 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SHREVEPORT LA
700 AM CDT MON AUG 11 2008

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

0652 AM     FLASH FLOOD      MONROE                  32.51N 92.08W
08/11/2008                   OUACHITA           LA   LAW ENFORCEMENT

            SHERIFFS OFFICE REPORTS NUMEROUS ROADWAYS FLOODED.

&&

JD

The radar

The Shreveport radar (KSHV), 107 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 12:16 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

1 flash flood. Local standard time, as filed.

Flash Flood, Columbia

When: August 11, 6:15 AM CST to 9:15 AM CST
Where: Columbia County, 0.58 mi W of Magnolia to 0.98 mi SSW of Magnolia
Cause: Heavy Rain
Property damage: $100,000
Reported by: Broadcast Media
Coordinates: 33.270, -93.240

Flooding was occurring in Magnolia and other nearby communities. Several county roads were underwater including high water across County Road 15 or Burnt Bridge Road. In Magnolia, Arkansas, several city streets were underwater including the intersections of East Main and Dudney as well as East North and Dudney. Barricades were needed along West Main Street near the West Side High School. Vine Street was washed out where some cars were flooded out.

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 Arkansas in 2008 Every state in 2008 This day in weather history Warnings in Arkansas, August 2008

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: 131960.