Flash Flood in Columbia County, Arkansas

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

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.