A nearly stationary front across the Tennessee valley region continued to aid in the development of very heavy rainfall that contributed to flash flooding that evolved into a large areal flood event across a small portion of southwest North Carolina.
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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 MRX wrote it up.
A nearly stationary front across the Tennessee valley region continued to aid in the development of very heavy rainfall that contributed to flash flooding that evolved into a large areal flood event across a small portion of southwest North Carolina.
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 Morristown, TN wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Sep 26, 12:55 PM EST, 5 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION...UPDATED
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MORRISTOWN TN
155 PM EDT SAT SEP 26 2009
.AVIATION...HEAVY RAIN SHOWERS WITH A FEW EMBEDDED THUNDERSTORMS
MOVING THROUGH EAST TN AND EFFECTING ALL TAF SITES. AS A
RESULT...OCCASIONAL MVFR TO IFR CONDITIONS WITH LOW CIGS AND VIS
EXPECTED THROUGH THE EVENING. SHOWERS WILL DECREASE IN STRENGTH AND
COVERAGE OVERNIGHT...HOWEVER...RECENT RAINFALL AND SOME CLEARING
WILL ALLOW AREAS OF FOG TO DEVELOP BY MORNING FOR ADDITIONAL MVFR
CONDITIONS. IMPROVING CONDITIONS EXPECTED ON SUNDAY FOR VFR
CONDITIONS.
&&
.MRX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
NC...FLASH FLOOD WATCH THROUGH THIS EVENING FOR THE FOLLOWING ZONES:
CHEROKEE...CLAY.
TN...FLASH FLOOD WATCH THROUGH THIS EVENING FOR THE FOLLOWING ZONES:
ANDERSON...BLEDSOE...BLOUNT SMOKY MOUNTAINS...BRADLEY...
CAMPBELL...CLAIBORNE...COCKE SMOKY MOUNTAINS...EAST POLK...
GRAINGER...HAMBLEN...HAMILTON...HANCOCK...HAWKINS...
JEFFERSON...JOHNSON...KNOX...LOUDON...MARION...MCMINN...
MEIGS...MORGAN...NW BLOUNT...NORTH SEVIER...NORTHWEST
CARTER...NORTHWEST COCKE...NORTHWEST GREENE...NORTHWEST
MONROE...RHEA...ROANE...SCOTT TN...SEQUATCHIE...SEVIER
SMOKY MOUNTAINS...SOUTHEAST CARTER...SOUTHEAST GREENE...
SOUTHEAST MONROE...SULLIVAN...UNICOI...UNION...WASHINGTON
TN...WEST POLK.
VA...FLASH FLOOD WATCH THROUGH THIS EVENING FOR THE FOLLOWING ZONES:
LEE...RUSSELL...SCOTT...WASHINGTON...WISE.
&&
MJBHAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK...UPDATED NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MORRISTOWN TN 1010 AM EDT SAT SEP 26 2009 NCZ060-061-TNZ012>018-035>047-067>074-081>087-098>102-VAZ001-002- 005-006-008-271000- CHEROKEE-CLAY-SCOTT TN-CAMPBELL-CLAIBORNE-HANCOCK-HAWKINS- SULLIVAN-JOHNSON-MORGAN-ANDERSON-UNION-GRAINGER-HAMBLEN- NORTHWEST COCKE-COCKE SMOKY MOUNTAINS-NORTHWEST GREENE- SOUTHEAST GREENE-WASHINGTON TN-UNICOI-NORTHWEST CARTER- SOUTHEAST CARTER-ROANE-LOUDON-KNOX-JEFFERSON-NW BLOUNT- BLOUNT SMOKY MOUNTAINS-NORTH SEVIER-SEVIER SMOKY MOUNTAINS- SEQUATCHIE-BLEDSOE-RHEA-MEIGS-MCMINN-NORTHWEST MONROE- SOUTHEAST MONROE-MARION-HAMILTON-BRADLEY-WEST POLK-EAST POLK-LEE-WISE-SCOTT-RUSSELL-WASHINGTON- 1010 AM EDT (910 AM CDT) SAT SEP 26 2009 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR EAST TENNESSEE...SOUTHWEST VIRGINIA AND EXTREME SOUTHWEST NORTH CAROLINA. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT A COLD FRONT WILL SLOWLY MOVE INTO A VERY MOIST ATMOSPHERE OVER THE REGION TO CREATE FAVORABLE CONDITIONS FOR HEAVY RAINFALL TODAY. WITH THE GROUND ALREADY FULLY SATURATED FROM RAINFALL EARLIER THIS WEEK...THERE IS THE POTENTIAL A SIGNIFICANT FLOODING EVENT TODAY... ESPECIALLY ACROSS THE NORTHERN CUMBERLAND PLATEAU AND SOUTHWEST VIRGINIA. IN ADDITION TO THE FLOODING THREAT...SOME THUNDERSTORMS MAY ALSO PRODUCE STRONG GUSTY WINDS THIS AFTERNOON. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SUNDAY THROUGH FRIDAY NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY BE NEEDED TODAY TO ASSIST WITH REPORTS OF FLOODING. DMG
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MORRISTOWN TN
1049 AM EDT SAT SEP 26 2009
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0536 PM FLASH FLOOD 12 ENE JONESVILLE 36.75N 82.92W
09/25/2009 LEE VA LAW ENFORCEMENT
HWY 612 IN STICKLEYVILLE IMPASSABLE DUE TO FLOODING.
REPORTED BY DISPATCH.
0600 PM FLASH FLOOD 5 SE JONESVILLE 36.64N 83.05W
09/25/2009 LEE VA DEPT OF HIGHWAYS
HWY 782 IMPASSABLE DUE TO FLOODING. REPORTED BY HWY DEPT.
0645 PM FLASH FLOOD SODDY-DAISY 35.26N 85.17W
09/25/2009 HAMILTON TN LAW ENFORCEMENT
EIGHT ROADS CLOSED IN THE SODDY DAISY AREA DUE TO
FLOODING. REPORTED BY SODDY-DAISY PD.
&&
MEPPRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MORRISTOWN TN
1151 AM EDT SAT SEP 26 2009
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
1140 AM FLASH FLOOD WISE 36.98N 82.58W
09/26/2009 WISE VA LAW ENFORCEMENT
DISPATCH REPORTS MOST STREAMS IN THE COUNTY OUT OF THEIR
BANKS. ALL ROADS NEAR STREAMS ARE FLOODING OR HAVE
STANDING WATER.
&&
MEPThe national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 flood. Local standard time, as filed.
Heavy rainfall resulted in areal flooding in the Murphy area, with all streams in vicinity out of their banks and several inches of water was reported to be over and flowing across low lying areas along highway 19.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in North Carolina in 2009Every state in 2009This day in weather historyWarnings in North Carolina, September 2009
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: 198227.