Flash Flood — Hickman, Kentucky

2011-02-24 · near Beulah, Hickman, Kentucky

Event narrative

A horse-drawn buggy carrying an Amish family was washed away at a low water crossing on a rural gravel road. Four children drowned when they were swept down a swollen creek. Reports stated that up to five feet of water swept the buggy away. The two parents driving the buggy and made it to safety, along with three children. Of the children who drowned, three were siblings and the fourth was a cousin. Three of the bodies were recovered within hours, and the fourth was recovered the following morning. The low water crossing itself was on the Graves County line, and the bodies were located up to 600 yards into Hickman County. The horse and buggy were located about 100 yards downstream from the road. The horse survived. The family was on its way back from making a phone call at a community phone shack used by the Amish community.

Wider weather episode

A powerful mid-level shortwave trough ejected east-northeast across the southern Plains, reaching the lower and mid Mississippi Valley during the night. In the lower levels, a low intensified as it tracked from Oklahoma into southern Missouri during the day, then across the Lower Ohio Valley in the evening. To the east of the low, a warm front advanced northward to the Lower Ohio Valley. Storms moving east-northeast evolved into an extensive QLCS (quasi-linear convective system) that produced scattered wind damage and a few tornadoes. Preceding the QLCS, widespread heavy rain accompanied the warm front.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (36.7678, -88.8262)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 281069. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.