Flash Flood — Iron, Missouri

2002-05-12 to 2002-05-13 · near Countywide, Iron, Missouri

Wider weather episode

Some of the worse flash flooding in recent years hit on Sunday, Mother's Day, and continued into early Monday. Around 6 inches of rain fell on ground already saturated by previous rain. For several counties, it was the worst flooding in memory. Iron County was especially hard hit. Virtually every creek and small stream flooded closing roads throughout the county. There were numerous water rescues as people were trapped in their cars. Emergency shelters in the County were opened to help stranded motorists and people who were flooded out of homes. The story was similar in Reynolds County as Highways 49 and 21 had to be closed. In Fredericktown, in Madison County, many city streets flooded. Several people were stranded in flooded vehicles and could not be reached for an hour or so. Numerous roads were flooded across Crawford, St. Francois, Ste. Genevieve and Washington Counties as well. The only death that occurred happened in Iron County near Ironton. A 43 year old man was trying to cross Stouts Creek on foot to get to his home to rescue his dogs. He was knocked down, but managed to grab hold of a tree. He was swept away and drowned by the rising water before rescue workers could reach him.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 5291505. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.