Flash Flood — Pulaski, Arkansas

2013-05-30 to 2013-05-31 · near Wye, Pulaski, Arkansas

Event narrative

Numerous streets and roads were flooded. The Little Rock Fire Department responded to several calls of cars stalled in high water. At one time, water was as much as 3 feet deep on some roads in the Ferndale area. The body of an 18 year-old male was found in Coleman Creek on the campus of the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. The state medical examiner ruled drowning as the cause of death, but it was not known how he ended up in the water. He was not a student at the university. At the Little Rock airport on the 30th, 2.06 inches of rain fell in the 30-minute period ending at 9:57 PM CDT, 2.73 inches fell in the 45-minute period ending at 10:13 PM CDT, and 3.09 inches fell in the one-hour period ending at 10:17 PM CDT. The 3.09 inches of rain in one hour broke the previous all-time record for the greatest amount of rain in one hour in Little Rock. The previous record was 3.00 inches on May 26, 1955.

Wider weather episode

The approach of low pressure aloft triggered numerous thunderstorms from the 30th into the early morning hours of the 31st. Tornadoes, severe thunderstorms, and flash flooding occurred. The flooding killed six people, and the tornadoes killed one. The same weather system caused severe storms and flash flooding again on June 1st. For the 24-hour period ending at 7 AM on the 31st, a band of very heavy rain fell from Waldron and Mena to Conway and Little Rock and then on to Newport and Augusta. Within this band, rainfall amounts of 3 to 5 inches were common, and isolated totals exceeded 7 inches. Also on the evening of the 30th, 3.09 inches of rain fell in one hour at Little Rock, breaking the all-time record for the greatest amount of rain in one hour in the city. The previous record was 3.00 inches on May 26, 1955. President Barack Obama declared federal disasters in these counties: Cleburne, Independence, Montgomery, Polk, Scott, Searcy, Stone, Van Buren, and Woodruff.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (34.9300, -92.6400)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 445954. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.