Flash Flood — Mitchell, Iowa

2013-05-19 to 2013-05-20 · near Otranto, Mitchell, Iowa

Event narrative

Heavy rain produced wide spread flash flooding across much of Mitchell County. Numerous roads around Stacyville were under water by early evening and sand bagging occurred along the Little Cedar River. U.S. Highway 218 was closed by flooding between Osage and St. Ansgar and State Highway 9 was closed east and west of Osage. West of Osage, two culverts were washed away, causing a section of Highway 9 to collapse. A total of 22 roads were closed, 6 to 8 bridges washed out and approximately 90 percent of the gravel roads across the entire county were covered with water. Damage to the roads was estimated to be around $4.5 million. In addition to all the road damage, a railroad bridge north of St. Ansgar was also washed out. The Stacyville fire department reported between 6 and 7 inches of rain had fallen during the mid and late afternoon hours. The heavy rains also took out about 15 percent of the county's corn crop.

Wider weather episode

Several rounds of thunderstorms rolled across northeast Iowa during the afternoon and evening of May 19th. These storms produced very heavy rains across Floyd and Mitchell Counties where numerous roads were washed out or covered with flood waters. Damage to roads in Mitchell County was estimated to be around $4.5 million where 22 roads were closed with 6 to 8 bridges washed out. The heavy rain also damaged the corn crop in Mitchell County where it is estimated up to 15 percent of the crop will not grow back. The storms also produced damaging winds that destroyed buildings and blew down trees and power lines. Barns were blown down in Floyd and Mitchell Counties while a grain elevator was damaged near Fredericksburg (Chickasaw County). Flood waters on the Little Cedar River east of Charles City (Floyd County) damaged a railroad bridge causing an 80 car train to derail into the river. The two employees on the train were rescued without sustaining any injuries. The Iowa Governor requested a Presidential Disaster Declaration be made for Mitchell, Floyd, Chickasaw, Fayette and Clayton Counties.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (43.4900, -93.0200)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 447113. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.