Flash Flood — Washington, Arkansas

2022-05-05 · near Fayetteville, Washington, Arkansas

Event narrative

Portions of Town Branch Creek and Cato Springs Branch Creek flooded nearby roads. A woman was swept away by flood water near where Beechwood Avenue crosses Town Branch Creek.

Wider weather episode

A strong storm system slowly moved from the central Rockies into the Southern and Central Plains on the 4th and 5th. The associated surface frontal boundary located over northern Texas early on the 4th moved north as a warm front into northwestern Arkansas during the early morning hours of the 5th, and then near the Missouri border during the day ahead of a cold front. This pattern resulted in several rounds of thunderstorms across northwestern Arkansas on the 4th through the morning hours of the 5th. The heaviest rainfall occurred in northwestern Arkansas during the late evening of the 4th and early morning of the 5th, with widespread flooding occurring across several counties. In addition to the flash flooding, the widespread, heavy rainfall that fell across the Arkansas River basin in eastern Oklahoma resulted in moderate flooding along the Arkansas River near Van Buren.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (36.0495, -94.1922)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1033767. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.