Flash Flood — Carter, Kentucky

2010-07-20 to 2010-07-21 · near Soldier, Carter, Kentucky

Event narrative

Streams such as Tygart Creek, Little and Big Sinking Creeks, Henderson Branch, Smith Run, and Mills Branch saw major flash flooding. A 72 year old woman drowned. Her mobile home was washed off its foundation and pushed some 200 yards to a bridge. The home broke into pieces at the bridge. Her body was not found until 3 days later near the mouth of the creek with the Little Sandy River. Downtown Olive Hill was flooded again. The crest was about a foot in downtown, compared to 4 to 5 feet during the flood in May. Nineteen homes were destroyed in the county with major damage to 60 to 70 others. Most of the damage was concentrated in the Grahn and Fultz vicinity. Around a half dozen vehicles were washed into Little Sinking Creek. Several private and a few public bridges were destroyed.

Governor Steve Beshear declared a state of emergency. Carter County was included in the FEMA disaster declaration number 1925.

Wider weather episode

Well south of a frontal boundary, a moist and unstable air mass resided over the Ohio Valley. The ground was already wetter than normal from previous rains. A southwest and west wind along with daytime heating formed showers and thunderstorms during the afternoon of the 20th. Overnight, more storms formed along a leftover east to west boundary. That allowed for repetitive showers from portions of northeast Kentucky into extreme southern Ohio and western West Virginia.

The main period of rain was from around 1400E on the 20th to 0100E on the 21st. In northeast Kentucky, the highest rain totals were in western and southern portions of Carter County. The cooperative observer at Grayson Lake had 6.21 inches in the 24 hours ending on the morning of the 21st. Olive Hill measured 5.57 inches. Nearby, the automatic gauge at Globe had 5.2 inches. The cooperative observer at Grayson measured 3.37 inches. In Greenup County, Warnock had 2.45 inches but amounts increased toward the Ohio River. The city of Greenup measured 3.27 inches and the Greenup Lock and Dam had 2.96 inches.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (38.2500, -83.3000)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 245446. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.