Flash Flood — Madison, Tennessee

2010-05-01 · near Fairview, Madison, Tennessee

Event narrative

Very heavy rain fell during the day across Madison County. As much as 11 to 16 inches fell across the county. Forty roads and bridges were closed due to the flooding. Vehicles had water up to the steering wheels in some locations. Power outages occurred as a result of the flooding. Houses were inundated with water(as much as 5 feet) especially in South Jackson, the Herron Grove area of Jackson, McGee Loop area of Northeast Jackson, and Bemis. In total, 120 to 140 homes across Madison County sustained damage from the flooding. As many as 85 businesses in Jackson received damage. The flash flooding event transitioned into a flood event as rivers rose quickly from the rainfall and overflowed their banks. Some roads remained closed for days making travel difficult. Shelters were opened in Jackson due to the flooding.

Wider weather episode

An upper level disturbance slowly approached the Mid-South during the evening of April 30th, 2010 as a cold front became stationary to the west. This pattern remained in place through the evening hours of May 2nd, 2010. South to southwest winds pumped warm moist air from the Gulf of Mexico and created a very unstable atmosphere. Showers and thunderstorms developed in association with the front during the early evening hours and moved east into Eastern Arkansas shortly before midnight. Additional thunderstorms occurred in association with the upper level disturbance. Due to the unstable atmosphere, thunderstorms quickly became severe producing large hail, damaging winds, and flash flooding. The severe weather evolved into an outbreak by May 1st and 2nd. Historic rainfall and flash flooding in addition to large hail and damaging winds occurred during the early morning hours of May 1st with several tornadoes occurring during the afternoon hours of May 1st to early morning hours of May 2nd.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (35.7700, -88.8500)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 229196. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.