Name: Flash Flood in Missouri, May 31, 2019
Start: 2019-05-31T18:00
End: 2019-05-31T23:59
Location: Missouri

Where it happened

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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: $100,000
Crop damage: $100,000
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 EAX wrote it up.

A levee failed along the Missouri River near Petersburg, Missouri. Areas along the north bank of the river became inundated with several feet of running water as the river spilled out of of the levee banks. The towns of Franklin and New Franklin were heaviest impacted with several inches of water running into the towns.

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 Kansas City, MO wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at May 31, 5:25 PM CST, 35 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, May 31, 5:25 PM CST, 35 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
National Weather Service Kansas City/Pleasant Hill MO
625 PM CDT Fri May 31 2019

.Discussion...
Issued at 328 PM CDT FRI MAY 31 2019

Primary forecast focus is on thunderstorms Saturday Afternoon.

Currently, fairly hazy, especially aloft, as copious amounts of
smoke continue to stream in from the wildfires in western Canada.
Looking at GOES GeoColor RGB, the swath of smoke spans from the
central plains to the Great Lakes all the way to the northeast.
Temperatures have a few more degrees to go, but highs will be in the
upper 70s around 80 with steady southwest winds.

On Saturday, the weak negatively tilted ridge, extending from the
Texas Gulf Coast to the Rockies, will remain in place, with a
frontal boundary sliding southeast through the morning, associated
with a short wave trough swinging through the Great Lakes. Boundary
layer return flow will be enough for surface dew points in the upper
60s near 70. However, the general wind field aloft is not overly
supportive, with northwest flow from 850mb and north. However, given
MLCAPE values in the 2000 to 3000 J/Kg range, we'll see storms go up
along the front as it advances into central Missouri, mid to late
afternoon. We could see some stronger updrafts capable of damaging
hail and wind, within the broader area of convection. Remaining rain
and thunderstorms will slide southward, on the Ozark Plateau,
through midnight.

A surface ridge will develop over the region through Sunday, with
fairly quiet weather through Monday, before a weak ridge develops
over the region, with short waves traversing near daily, bringing
shower and thunderstorm chances, near daily, through mid-week,
before a 500mb trough lifts across the Rockies, bringing another
chance of appreciable rainfall to close out next week.

&&

.Aviation...(For the 00Z TAFS through 00Z Saturday Evening)
Issued at 623 PM CDT FRI MAY 31 2019

High clouds should continue through the area for the next couple
hours before clearing to the east by tonight. Cold front will
cause winds to shift more to the west/northwest on Saturday
afternoon. Could see a few storms form along the front as it moves
through the terminals, but coverage is a bit uncertain at this
time. Storms would most likely fire along the front near the I-70
corridor, so terminals like KSTJ/KMCI may remain just north of the
thunderstorms, and likewise KMKC/KIXD should have a slightly
higher chance of seeing these scattered storms Saturday
afternoon/evening.

&&

.EAX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
KS...NONE.
MO...NONE.
&&

Discussion...Kurtz
Aviation...Leighton

The radar

The Pleasant Hill radar (KEAX), 119 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 00:02 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

1 flash flood. Local standard time, as filed.

Flash Flood, Howard

When: May 31, 6:00 PM CST to 11:59 PM CST
Where: Howard County, 1.74 mi WSW of Petersburg to 2.1 mi SSW of Petersburg
Cause: Dam / Levee Break
Property damage: $100,000
Crop damage: $100,000
Reported by: Emergency Manager
Coordinates: 39.058, -92.928

Howard County District #2 levee failed allowing the already flooding Missouri River to spill into low lying areas of southern Howard County. Most of this area consisted of farmland, but the cities of Franklin and New Franklin received several inches of running water. News articles from across the local region indicated that crops planted earlier in the growing season in the southern part of the county were lost. Monetary damages are unknown from this flood event. This flash flooding event carried into the first couple days of June.

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

More

Every storm in Missouri in 2019 Every state in 2019 This day in weather history Warnings in Missouri, May 2019

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: 816352.