A slow moving storm system caused a prolonged period of rainfall across a large part of Central Alabama. Showers and thunderstorms with moderate to heavy rain repeatedly developed and moved over the same areas, causing flash flooding, which transitioned into areal (and later, river) flooding.
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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 BMX wrote it up.
A slow moving storm system caused a prolonged period of rainfall across a large part of Central Alabama. Showers and thunderstorms with moderate to heavy rain repeatedly developed and moved over the same areas, causing flash flooding, which transitioned into areal (and later, river) flooding. The greatest storm total rainfall, which started late on March 9 and lasted until March 11, stretched across Shelby into Talladega County, where 6 to 8 inches of rain was reported. Three to 6 inches of rainfall was common across other portions of Central Alabama, especially the northern half.
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 Birmingham, AL wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Mar 10, 4:11 AM CST, 17 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL 411 AM CST WED MAR 10 2010 .DISCUSSION...TODAY THROUGH THURSDAY. AS OF THIS WRITING...BAND OF STRONG CONVECTION WAS LOCATED RIGHT ACROSS THE HEART OF THE FORECAST AREA. A STRONG SOUTHERLY LOW LEVEL JET AND MID LEVEL TROUGH AXIS WERE PROVIDING PLENTY OF VERTICAL MOTION AND MOISTURE CONVERGENCE OVER THE AREA. EXPECT THIS AREA TO TRANSITION VERY SLOWLY NORTHWARD AND EASTWARD WITH TIME...BUT TRAINING CELLS WILL OCCUR WELL AFTER SUNRISE....WITH LESSER ORGANIZATION NOTED LATER. SEVERAL LOCATIONS HAVE RECEIVED 1-2 INCHES OF RAIN OVERNIGHT WITH ISOLATED AMOUNTS OVER 3 INCHES OR MORE. NOT ALL AREAS WILL EXPERIENCE THE HEAVY RAIN TODAY... BUT WITH MORE RAIN EXPECTED LATER THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT...WILL ISSUE A FLASH FLOOD WATCH THROUGH TONIGHT TO AVOID ANY CONFUSION TO THE AREAS AND TIMING OF RAIN. A STRONG UPPER LEVEL STRAIGHT JET STREAM IS POSITIONED ALONG THE NORTHERN GULF OF MEXICO. THIS JET WILL PUT CENTRAL ALABAMA UNDER DIFFLUENT FLOW THROUGH THURSDAY. AS THE FIRST UPPER SYSTEM EXITS THE AREA THIS MORNING...ANOTHER MORE POTENT MID LEVEL TROUGH SWINGS ACROSS THE REGION THIS EVENING. SEVERAL THINGS COME INTO PLAY BESIDES THIS TROUGH AND ADD TO THE POTENTIAL FOR STRONG STORMS AND HEAVY RAIN. A SURFACE WARM FRONT WILL INCH TO THE AREA TODAY WITH SURFACE DEW POINTS RISING INTO THE 60S SOUTHWEST AND THE LOW LEVEL JET KICKS BACK UP THIS EVENING. UNSTABLE SURFACE CONDITIONS DEVELOP NEAR AND SOUTH OF THE SURFACE WARM FRONT WITH SOME SUPERCELLULAR STRUCTURE POSSIBLE. THEREFORE...WILL MENTION A CHANCE OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WEST OF A LINE FROM MONTGOMERY TO TUSCALOOSA TO HALEYVILLE. THESE STRONGER STORMS MAY BE ISOLATED EARLY THIS AFTERNOON AND INCREASE IN COVERAGE LATE THIS AFTERNOON AND INTO THIS EVENING. THERE WILL BE A SMALL CHANCE OF DAMAGING WINDS... HAIL...AND ISOLATED TORNADOES. ELSEWHERE...STRONG STORMS ARE POSSIBLE BUT SHOULD GENERALLY REMAIN BELOW SEVERE LIMITS. HEAVY RAIN IS POSSIBLE LATE THIS AFTERNOON AND OVERNIGHT AREA WIDE WHERE ANOTHER 2 INCHES OR MORE WILL BE POSSIBLE IN A SHORT PERIOD OF TIME. .LONG TERM...FRIDAY THROUGH TUESDAY. LARGE PIN-WHEELING UPPER LOW WILL HAVE AN EFFECT ON CENTRAL ALABAMA WEATHER AT LEAST THROUGH THE WEEKEND. GFS/ECMWF HAVE ANOTHER SPOKE ROTATING THROUGH THE FLOW ON FRIDAY AND HAVE ADDED 40-60 POPS. TRUE COLD FRONT PUSHES ACROSS THE AREA FRIDAY WITH A RETURN TO MORE SEASONAL TEMPERATURE READINGS THEREAFTER. WILL HAVE TO MONITOR HOW CLOSE THE UPPER GETS TO NORTHERN ALABAMA AS THERE COULD BE A SMALL CHANCE OF SHOWERS EVEN BEYOND SUNDAY. && .AVIATION...06Z TAF DISCUSSION. WEATHER PATTERN BECOMING SLIGHTLY CLEARER AT ISSUANCE WITH ALL SITES AT IFR CIG-WISE...OR LOOKING TO GO IFR SHORTLY. VIS SHOULD REMAIN MVFR EXCEPT DURING THE SHORT LIVED PERIODS OF HEAVIER RAIN WHEN 2SM COULD BE EXPERIENCED. PATTERN LOOKS TO STAY FAIRLY STAGNANT...WHICH MEANS PRETTY CONSTANT RA WITH SCATTERED TS THROUGH THIS TAF PERIOD. WENT WITH VCTS AT ALL SITES BECAUSE OF THE ON AND OFF NATURE OF TS. 27 && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... GADSDEN 61 55 68 44 69 / 100 100 60 20 60 ANNISTON 62 55 70 47 71 / 100 100 60 20 60 BIRMINGHAM 64 57 72 48 70 / 100 100 50 20 60 TUSCALOOSA 70 59 75 48 70 / 100 100 30 20 50 CALERA 65 57 73 47 70 / 100 100 40 20 50 AUBURN 65 54 68 49 72 / 90 100 60 20 50 MONTGOMERY 70 59 75 49 74 / 100 100 40 20 50 TROY 69 57 74 48 73 / 90 100 60 20 40 && .BMX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... FLASH FLOOD WATCH THROUGH LATE TONIGHT FOR THE FOLLOWING COUNTIES: AUTAUGA...BARBOUR...BIBB...BLOUNT...BULLOCK... CALHOUN...CHAMBERS...CHEROKEE...CHILTON...CLAY...CLEBURNE... COOSA...DALLAS...ELMORE...ETOWAH...FAYETTE...GREENE...HALE... JEFFERSON...LAMAR...LEE...LOWNDES...MACON...MARENGO...MARION... MONTGOMERY...PERRY...PICKENS...PIKE...RANDOLPH...RUSSELL... SHELBY...ST. CLAIR...SUMTER...TALLADEGA...TALLAPOOSA... TUSCALOOSA...WALKER...WINSTON. && 75/75/27
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL 722 PM CST TUE MAR 9 2010 ALZ011>015-017>050-110124- AUTAUGA-BARBOUR-BIBB-BLOUNT-BULLOCK-CALHOUN-CHAMBERS-CHEROKEE- CHILTON-CLAY-CLEBURNE-COOSA-DALLAS-ELMORE-ETOWAH-FAYETTE-GREENE-HALE- JEFFERSON-LAMAR-LEE-LOWNDES-MACON-MARENGO-MARION-MONTGOMERY-PERRY- PICKENS-PIKE-RANDOLPH-RUSSELL-SHELBY-ST CLAIR-SUMTER-TALLADEGA- TALLAPOOSA-TUSCALOOSA-WALKER-WINSTON- 722 PM CST TUE MAR 9 2010 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR THE COUNTIES SERVED BY THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE OFFICE IN BIRMINGHAM. .DAY ONE...TONIGHT. NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...WEDNESDAY THROUGH MONDAY. STRONG TO SEVERE STORMS ACROSS EAST LOUISIANA AND SOUTHERN MISSISSIPPI MAY APPROACH CENTRAL ALABAMA WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON AND EVENING. THESE STORMS SHOULD SLOWLY WEAKEN AS THEY TRACK EASTWARD BUT COULD BE CAPABLE OF PRODUCING DAMAGING WIND GUSTS AND HAIL AS THEY MOVE ACROSS WESTERN ALABAMA. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... ACTIVATION OF STORM SPOTTERS AND EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT MAY BE NECESSARY AS EARLY AS WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON. 27
The Birmingham radar (KBMX), 18 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 10:25 UTC.
5 hail, 3 flash flood, 3 flood. Local standard time, as filed.
A period of heavy rain caused Bishop Creek to come out of its banks, and the water came up to the bottom of a few vehicles in the area. Flash flooding in the area later transitioned to long term areal flooding due to additional rainfall.
Six inches of water was flowing over McGowans Ferry Road near the Fayetteville community.
What began as flash flooding transitioned into widespread long term flooding across a large portion of Shelby County during the late morning of the 10th. Dozens of roads were closed across the county due to high water, and as many as ten roads were still closed two days later. The hardest hit area was the western portion of the county, especially around the Helena, Pelham, and Alabaster areas, where more than 8 inches of rain fell during the 3 day period. In Alabaster, several vehicles were overcome by high water, and the occupants briefly became trapped. Other communities that experienced flooding included Montevallo, Columbiana, Shelby, and Wilsonville.
What began as flash flooding transitioned into widespread long term flooding across a large portion of Talladega County during the late morning of the 10th. Dozens of roads were closed across the county due to high water, and several small bridges became washed out. The initial problem area on the morning of the 10th was the city of Sylacauga, but as the heavy rainfall shifted northward in the afternoon, the cities of Talladega and eventually Munford also experienced flooding issues. Other communities with reports of flooding included Childersburg, Winterboro, and Renfroe.
One foot of water was reported flowing over Deaver Walker Road, near the Locust Fork community.
After briefly letting up for a short time, another burst of heavy rainfall caused flash flooding in the city of Pelham. Several people had to be rescued from flooded townhomes.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Alabama in 2010Every state in 2010This day in weather historyWarnings in Alabama, March 2010
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: 222360, 222365, 222172, 222345, 222374, 222376, 222377, 222381, 222384, 222393, 222372.