Flash Flood — Hardin, Kentucky

2025-06-16 · near Elizabeth Town, Hardin, Kentucky

Event narrative

Flowing water was observed over West Poplar Street, and a water rescue was performed.

Wider weather episode

Split upper-level flow set up over the Ohio and Mississippi Valleys for several days between June 15th and 17th, 2025. Upper low pressure became cut off, with a surface stationary front meandering back and forth across the lower Ohio Valley. In the vicinity of the surface front, a moist and unstable environment was present, with precipitable water values near 2 inches. Each afternoon, scattered to numerous showers and thunderstorms would develop, continuing through the evening hours before diminishing after sunset. Given fairly weak flow aloft, storm motion was fairly slow, increasing the potential for swaths of locally heavy rainfall and flash flooding. Multiple instances of flash flooding were observed over this three day period, with significant flooding observed in Elizabethtown during the evening hours on May 16th.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (37.7047, -85.8710)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1271669. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.