Heavy Rain — Carter, Kentucky

2014-04-29 · near Beetle, Carter, Kentucky

Event narrative

Little Fork was swollen, but not flooding, near its junction with the feeder stream called Leadingham Branch. Rains of 1 to 1.5 inches likely had fallen in the vicinity over the past 24 hours. A lull in the rain occurred during the late afternoon and early evening.

During the early evening, a 73 year male tried to drive his small vehicle across a low water bridge along the dead end gravel road leading to his home. He was a long time resident there. The low water bridge was a concrete slab in the bed of the creek. There were small pipes embedded in the concrete to handle low stream flow. The vehicle was swept off the bridge. The vehicle was not found until the 2nd of May, when water levels were lower. His body was found inside the vehicle.

Wider weather episode

Rain showers began on the 28th. Showers and thunderstorms were common late on the 28th into the morning of the 29th.

Along a nearly stationary front, thunderstorms reformed during the mid afternoon over eastern Kentucky and western West Virginia on the 29th. Localized large hail fell briefly.

A swollen stream and a low water bridge combined to cause a fatality in southeastern Carter County during the early evening of the 29th.

Another round of convection formed after sunset on the evening of the 29th. Rain showers continued into the 30th, but rain intensities were lighter. The storm total rain amounts were around 3 inches across Boyd and Carter Counties. The maximum observed amount was 4.24 inches from the cooperative observer near Warnock in Greenup County. This was over a 3 day period.

Streams overflowed onto roads in Greenup County on the 30th. Luckily, the heaviest rains missed the headwaters of the Little Sandy River, keeping that river within its banks.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (38.1975, -82.9471)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 504842. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.