Flash Flood — Leake, Mississippi

2003-04-06 to 2003-04-07 · near South Portion, Leake, Mississippi

Event narrative

Several rounds of thunderstorms and continued heay rain dumped 7 to 12 inches of rain across the southern portion of Leake county. Numerous roads were flooded with a few bridges being washed out. Several homes and businesses were also flooded.

Wider weather episode

To put the entire event into perspective, areas just to the N of Interstate 20 and extending W to E across the entire state, experienced a 125 year rainfall event. Rainfall totals ranged from 7 to 12 inches which all fell in about 18 hours. Due to the large amounts of rain, river flooding quickly became a major problem. The Pelahatchie Creek experienced a 100 year flood. The Chunky River, at Chunky, set a new record. This river actually flooded a portion of Interstate 20 which had to be closed for a few hours. The Chickasawhay River at Enterprise also set a record. In addition to all the flash flooding, the river flooding caused major damage to homes and flooded numerous roads.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (31.6500, -90.7667)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 5349737. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.