Flash Flood — Vernon, Wisconsin

2007-08-19 · near Coon Vly, Vernon, Wisconsin

Event narrative

Car washed away at County Road P and Spring Coulee Road, but people escaped.

Wider weather episode

A warm front lifting northward into Iowa triggered round after round of thunderstorms leading to excessive rainfall across southwest Wisconsin during the evening and overnight hours of August 18-19. Total rainfall amounts of 10 to 15 inches were common. Specific reports from weather observers included 10.12 inches and 9.73 inches in Readstown and Viroqua (Vernon County) respectively. Rain had also fallen earlier in the day. Due to the excessive rainfall, widespread and significant flash flooding occurred. Numerous roads and bridges were washed out, houses collapsed due to mudslides and hundreds of homes had flooded basements. Amazingly, there were no fatalities reported. This was in spite of reports from law enforcement and fire department officials of rescuing people in stranded vehicles. Damage attributed to the heavy rainfall and subsequent flooding was estimated to be in the millions of dollars. Crawford, La Crosse, Richland and Vernon counties were declared federal disaster areas.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (43.7125, -91.0028)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 50612. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.