South Dakota, 2019

Flooding in South Dakota, March 23 to 31, 2019

March 23 to 31, 2019 · NWS ABR · 4 events in 4 counties and zones

Much above normal snow pack melt water and ice jamming brought flooding on the the Grand, Moreau, and Bad rivers across Corson, Dewey, Jones, and Stanley counties at the end of March. The Grand River at Little Eagle rose to moderate flood stage, nearly 4 and half feet above the flood stage of 15 feet.

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
None recorded
Crop damage
None recorded
Events
4

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 ABR wrote it up.

Much above normal snow pack melt water and ice jamming brought flooding on the the Grand, Moreau, and Bad rivers across Corson, Dewey, Jones, and Stanley counties at the end of March. The Grand River at Little Eagle rose to moderate flood stage, nearly 4 and half feet above the flood stage of 15 feet. The Moreau River near Whitehorse rose to major flood stage, almost 28 feet or 7 feet above flood stage. The Bad River near Fort Pierre rose just above the flood stage of 21 feet to 21.2 feet. The Bad River road was closed for a short time. Agricultural land along with several roads were flooded.

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 Aberdeen, SD wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Mar 23, 8:26 AM MST, 1 hour 19 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Mar 23, 8:26 AM MST, 1 hour 19 minutes before
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Hazardous weather outlook, Mar 23, 8:27 AM MST, 1 hour 18 minutes before
Hazardous Weather Outlook
National Weather Service Aberdeen SD
1027 AM CDT Sat Mar 23 2019

MNZ039-046-SDZ003>011-015>023-033>037-045-048-051-241530-
Traverse-Big Stone-Corson-Campbell-McPherson-Brown-Marshall-Roberts-
Walworth-Edmunds-Day-Dewey-Potter-Faulk-Spink-Clark-Codington-Grant-
Hamlin-Deuel-Stanley-Sully-Hughes-Hyde-Hand-Jones-Lyman-Buffalo-
1027 AM CDT Sat Mar 23 2019 /927 AM MDT Sat Mar 23 2019/

This Hazardous Weather Outlook is for west central Minnesota,
central South Dakota, north central South Dakota and northeast
South Dakota.

.DAY ONE...Today and tonight.

Snowmelt will contribute to overland and river/stream flooding over
portions of the region.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...Sunday through Friday.

Continued snowmelt over the next several days will contribute to
overland and river/stream flooding over portions of the region.

.SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...

Spotter activation is not expected at this time.

SD

The radar

The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

4 flood. Local standard time, as filed.

Flood, Corson

When
March 23, 9:45 AM MST to March 31, 10:30 AM MST
Where
Corson County, 12.22 mi NNW of Athboy to 0.48 mi NNW of Athboy
Cause
Heavy Rain / Snow Melt
Reported by
River/Stream Gage
Coordinates
45.740, -102.000

Flood, Dewey

When
March 24, 2:45 AM MST to March 29, 7:30 PM MST
Where
Dewey County, 6.52 mi NNW of Bear Creek to 8.52 mi N of Bear Creek
Cause
Heavy Rain / Snow Melt
Reported by
River/Stream Gage
Coordinates
45.160, -101.490

Flood, Jones

When
March 27, 9:00 AM CST to March 28, 1:00 PM CST
Where
Jones County, 3.74 mi WSW of Capa to 1.7 mi SW of Capa
Cause
Heavy Rain / Snow Melt
Reported by
River/Stream Gage
Coordinates
44.100, -101.050

Flood, Stanley

When
March 27, 9:00 AM MST to March 28, 1:00 PM MST
Where
Stanley County, 7.76 mi SW of Wendte to 0.85 mi SSW of Wendte
Cause
Heavy Rain / Snow Melt
Reported by
River/Stream Gage
Coordinates
44.170, -100.780

What these are

Flood
Flooding that develops more slowly than a flash flood: rivers leaving their banks, or water standing over land for an extended time.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

More

Every storm in South Dakota in 2019Every state in 2019This day in weather historyWarnings in South Dakota, March 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 2026-10-01. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 813330, 813843, 815591, 813849.