Massive and historic flooding struck central Indiana. In Indiana alone, flood waters affected over 25,000 people.
Every event with a place to put it. 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 episode as NWS IND wrote it up.
Massive and historic flooding struck central Indiana. In Indiana alone, flood waters affected over 25,000 people. This flood affected about 9% of the state's farmland. The Great Flood of June 2008 was one of Indiana's costliest natural disasters. Heavy rainfall on May 30th allowed streams and rivers to rise. Additional heavy rainfall on the 3rd and the 4th added to these high levels. Severe weather brought heavy rainfall on the 6th as well. The stage was set for historic flooding in portions of central and southern Indiana. The storms on the 6th exacerbated the situation by laying down a boundary in southern Illinois and southern Indiana. A moist southerly low level jet rode over this boundary for more than 12 hours continually generating showers and thunderstorms. Rainfall of two to nearly eleven inches fell across portions of central and southern Indiana. The impact of the rain was immediate with widespread flooding developing and major roads and interstates flooded. This episode is in reference to flooding of the Wabash River.
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 Jun 4, 1:30 PM EST, 1 hour 30 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE INDIANAPOLIS IN 230 PM EDT WED JUN 4 2008 .AVIATION...DISCUSSION FOR 18Z TAFS HIGH PRESSURE TO EAST OF FORECAST AREA WILL BRING FAIRLY STRONG WARM HUMID FLOW THROUGH 18Z. THIS WILL RESULT IN AREAS OF TSRA THROUGH 12Z...ESPECIALLY OVER NORTHERN PORTIONS OF THE AREA TONIGHT. TSRA MAY BRFLY PRODUCE VSBYS AOB 1 MI AND CIGS OVC015. BETWEEN TSRA CIGS SHOULD BE MAINLY AOA 10 THSD FT. VSBYS BWTWN TSRA MSTLY P6SM...BUT LCLY 5SM IN BR AROUND DAWN. WINDS MAINLY SOUTH 10-15 MPH TODAY AND 5-10 MPH TONIGHT. SW WND 10-20 MPH THURSDAY. WINDS IN TSRA BRFLY 40 MPH. && .DISCUSSION... SHORT TERM BIG QUESTION IS IF HYDRO PROBLEMS/SEVERE WEATHER WILL RETURN TONIGHT. AS OF 2 PM WE ARE MUCH CLEARER THAN WE WERE AT SAME TIME YESTERDAY. THIS WOULD SUGGEST CAP HAS BUILT OVER AREA AS ALL MODELS TAKE US INTO MORE OF A BERMUDA HIGH SITUATION. QUESTION IS WILL CAP HOLD TONIGHT...IF IT DOES NOT...CAPE IS VERY HIGH AND SO IS PRECIPITABLE WATER. ALSO TO CONSIDER...WARM FRONT THAT WAS ASSOCIATED WITH CONVECTION LAST NIGHT HAS MIGRATED NORTH. I CAN STILL SEE THINGS COMING TOGETHER IN THE NORTH TONIGHT AND WILL KEEP LIKELY GUIDANCE POPS THERE. ALSO FFA SINCE PRECIPITABLE WATER IS ABUNDANT AND SOME AREAS ARE SOAKED. TO THE SOUTH WITH A STRONGER CAP AND GREATER DISTANCE FROM THE FRONT...CHC POPS OK...BUT HEAVY RAIN STILL POSSIBLE WITH ANYTHING THAT FIRES. TEMPS RELATIVELY FLAT TONIGHT WITH WIND AND HUMID AIR. MET MOS SEEMS TO EXPRESS THIS WELL. ON THURSDAY HIGH PRESSURE BUILDS INTO INDIANA FROM THE EAST COAST. BIG QUESTION IS HOW HOT WILL IT GET. THERE SHOULD BE AN ABUNDANCE OF SUNSHINE. 850 MB TEMPS ARE A LITTLE WARMER THEN PRVS RUN. WILL GO NEAR WARMER NGM 3 HOURLY TEMPS WHICH ARE CLOSE TO PRVS FCST. SKIES SHOULD BE MOSTLY CLEAR FRIDAY NGT. WITH THE STG FLOW CONTINUING FROM THE SOUTH TEMPS SHOULD NOT DROP MUCH. THE NEXT SYSTEM MOVES IN ON FRIDAY. THE CHC OF RAIN WOULD MOST LIKELY NOT BEGIN UNTIL AFTN. AS THE SYSTEM MOVES THROUGH FRI NIGHT SHOWERS WILL BECOME LIKELY. THE CHANCE OF TSTMS WILL CONTINUE ON SAT. WARMER AND DRIER AIR WILL MOVE IN FROM SUN THROUGH THE EXTENDED PD. && .IND WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... FFA TONIGHT NORTHEAST QUARTER TONIGHT... AVIATION...KWIATKOWSKI SHORT TERM PUBLIC...KWIATKOWSKI LONG TERM PUBLIC...HAINES
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE INDIANAPOLIS IN 341 AM EDT WED JUN 4 2008 INZ021-030-031-036>042-045>049-052>057-061>065-068>072-050745- CARROLL-CLINTON-HOWARD-MONTGOMERY-BOONE-TIPTON-HAMILTON-MADISON- DELAWARE-RANDOLPH-PUTNAM-HENDRICKS-MARION-HANCOCK-HENRY-CLAY-OWEN- MORGAN-JOHNSON-SHELBY-RUSH-GREENE-MONROE-BROWN-BARTHOLOMEW- DECATUR-DAVIESS-MARTIN-LAWRENCE-JACKSON-JENNINGS- 341 AM EDT WED JUN 4 2008 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR CENTRAL INDIANA. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT. THERE IS A SLIGHT RISK OF SEVERE WEATHER ACROSS CENTRAL INDIANA TODAY. MORE THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED ACROSS CENTRAL INDIANA THIS MORNING AND THIS AFTERNOON. THE STORMS WILL HAVE THE CAPABILITY TO PRODUCE DAMAGING STRAIGHT LINE WINDS...ISOLATED TORNADOES...LARGE HAIL...VERY HEAVY RAIN RESULTING IN FLASH FLOODING...AND DEADLY LIGHTNING. THE THUNDERSTORM THREAT IS EXPECTED TO DIMINISH TONIGHT. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...THURSDAY THROUGH TUESDAY. ADDITIONAL THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE POSSIBLE FRIDAY AFTERNOON THROUGH SATURDAY BUT IT IS TOO EARLY TO TELL IF SEVERE WEATHER WILL OCCUR THEN. REMEMBER THAT DEADLY CLOUD TO GROUND LIGHTNING IS ALWAYS A THREAT IN ANY THUNDERSTORM. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL BE NEEDED TODAY. && MORE INFORMATION...ALONG WITH OTHER WEATHER...HYDROLOGICAL AND CLIMATE INFORMATION CAN BE FOUND...AT HTTP://WEATHER.GOV/IND (ALL LOWERCASE) INZ028-029-035-043-044-051-060-067-050745- WARREN-TIPPECANOE-FOUNTAIN-VERMILLION-PARKE-VIGO-SULLIVAN-KNOX- 341 AM EDT WED JUN 4 2008 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR CENTRAL INDIANA. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT. THERE IS A SLIGHT RISK OF SEVERE WEATHER ACROSS CENTRAL INDIANA TODAY. MORE THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED ACROSS CENTRAL INDIANA THIS MORNING AND THIS AFTERNOON. THE STORMS WILL HAVE THE CAPABILITY TO PRODUCE DAMAGING STRAIGHT LINE WINDS...ISOLATED TORNADOES...LARGE HAIL...VERY HEAVY RAIN RESULTING IN FLASH FLOODING...AND DEADLY LIGHTNING. THE THUNDERSTORM THREAT IS EXPECTED TO DIMINISH TONIGHT. LOWLAND FLOODING ON THE WABASH RIVER WILL CONTINUE TODAY. SEE THE LATEST HYDROLOGIC STATEMENTS FOR DETAILED INFORMATION. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...THURSDAY THROUGH TUESDAY. ADDITIONAL THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE POSSIBLE FRIDAY AFTERNOON THROUGH SATURDAY BUT IT IS TOO EARLY TO TELL IF SEVERE WEATHER WILL OCCUR THEN. REMEMBER THAT DEADLY CLOUD TO GROUND LIGHTNING IS ALWAYS A THREAT IN ANY THUNDERSTORM. LOWLAND FLOODING WILL CONTINUE ALONG THE WABASH RIVER THROUGH MID WEEK. PLEASE REFER TO THE LATEST HYDROLOGIC STATEMENTS FOR DETAILED INFORMATION. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL BE NEEDED TODAY. && MORE INFORMATION...ALONG WITH OTHER WEATHER...HYDROLOGICAL AND CLIMATE INFORMATION CAN BE FOUND...AT HTTP://WEATHER.GOV/IND (ALL LOWERCASE) PUMA
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE INDIANAPOLIS IN
1007 AM EDT WED JUN 04 2008
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0900 AM FLASH FLOOD 10 NE INDIANAPOLIS 39.88N 86.01W
06/04/2008 MARION IN PUBLIC
2 1/2 TO 3 FT OF WATER OVER ROADWAY AT 75TH ST AND
BINFORD AVE. SUV STRANDED. OTHER VEHICLES APPARENTLY
MAKING IT THROUGH WATER.
&&
HEROLDPRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE INDIANAPOLIS IN
127 PM EDT WED JUN 04 2008
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
1205 PM HAIL CROTHERSVILLE 38.80N 85.84W
06/04/2008 E1.75 INCH JACKSON IN LAW ENFORCEMENT
HAIL DENTED ROOFS OF SEVERAL CARS.
&&
HEROLDThe national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 flood. Local standard time, as filed.
Flooding occurred along the Wabash River in Knox County, including near Vincennes, due to heavy rain and breaks in a levee. The Wabash River levee failed early on the 10th downstream of Vincennes.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Indiana in 2008Every state in 2008This day in weather historyWarnings in Indiana, June 2008
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: 114047.