Flood — Howard, Nebraska

2024-05-30 to 2024-05-31 · near Cotesfield, Howard, Nebraska

Event narrative

Following the 2 to 5 inches that fell across the area on the 30th, another round of showers and thunderstorms brought an additional 1 to 2 inches of rain to the area during the early afternoon hours of the 31st. Numerous rural roads remained closed, and some bridges were washed out. Farwell was accessible only by rural roads, as the main paved entry into town remained covered in water. At least one resident was unable to access their home for a period of time due to the floodwaters. Emergency management reported that one resident who lived along Turkey Creek had to be evacuated from their home. The automated gauge on Turkey Creek showed a rapid rise on the 30th, reaching its flood stage of 17.0 feet around 10:45 AM CDT on the 30th. It remained in or near flood stage on into the evening of the 31st, peaking at a stage of 20.4 feet around 5 PM CDT on the 30th, stopping just below its record stage of 20.74 feet from March of 2019.

Wider weather episode

Multiple rounds of thunderstorms brings isolated, but significant, heavy rainfall to portions of Howard County from May 30th into the 31st. The initial bout of strong thunderstorms and heavy rainfall developed during the early morning hours of May 30th. This activity was the result of a mesoscale convective vortex (MCV) that emanated from convection over the High Plains the previous evening. Another round of strong thunderstorms and heavy rainfall moved through during the afternoon hours of the 31st. The two rain events combined to produce several inches of rainfall, which resulted in areas of flooding and flash flooding. Statistically speaking, the amount and rate of the rainfall made this event a 100 year flood.

The Farwell and Elba areas were hit particularly hard, in which impacts included: many rural roads closed, highways had at least shallow water running over them but were not closed, homes with water inside, and flooded cropland. There were videos of rapidly rushing streams and flows of water from fields, with another video showing maintainers being used to clear debris from portions of Highway 92 east of Ashton near the Sherman/Howard County line. Finally, the Turkey Creek near Dannebrog crested just below the record crest, which was set during the Bomb Cyclone in March 2019.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (41.3430, -98.7481)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1180395. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.