Flash Flood — Columbia, Arkansas

2025-06-08 · near Magnolia, Columbia, Arkansas

Event narrative

Several city and rural streets and highways flooded with some closed, including high water underneath the Highway 82 overpass with water in vehicles.

Wider weather episode

Back-building and training thunderstorms with heavy rainfall rates of 1 to 2 inches per hour developed across Columbia County in Southwest Arkansas on the morning of June 8th. This convection became focused within a moist, unstable and convergent low-level flow pattern with this convective cluster also near a frontal boundary. MLCAPE values of 1500 to 2000 J/kg and effective bulk shear of 30 to 40 kts both contributed to stronger redeveloping updrafts. Precipitable water values were on the order of 1.75+ inches, and with the level of shear and instability, rainfall rates were well into the 1 to 2 inch per hour range, with some higher rates near 2.5 inches per hour occurring with some storms. As a result, total rainfall amounts between 4-8 inches resulted in flash flooding, especially in the city of Magnolia with several reports of flooded roadways.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (33.2700, -93.2200)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1272013. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.