Flood — Vanderburgh, Indiana

2015-03-10 to 2015-03-23 · near Smythe, Vanderburgh, Indiana

Event narrative

Minor flooding occurred on the Ohio River. At the Evansville river gage, the river crested at 45.21 feet on the 18th. Flood stage is 42 feet. About 20 secondary roads were flooded in bottomland areas near the river. They were mostly farm roads flooded near the river, outside the Evansville city limits. Most of the flooded roads were south of Interstate 164 in the southeast part of the county and in lowland areas in the southwest part of the county. One motorist drowned after disregarding barricades and driving down a flooded road. A passenger in the vehicle was able to roll down a window and escape from the pickup truck. A police officer arrived, threw a rope to the passenger, and pulled her to safety. The driver of the truck was located underwater by the dive team of the Evansville Fire Department. CPR was administered to the driver, who was rushed to a local hospital. The passenger was treated and released from the hospital. The driver died at the hospital. The estimated water level at the scene of the drowning was estimated to be at least 6 or 7 feet. Floodwaters backed up into Pigeon Creek, forcing that creek well out of its banks. The crest of 45.21 feet was about a foot-and-a-half below the crest of the April, 2011 flood.

Wider weather episode

Moderate flooding occurred along most of the Ohio River, with pockets of only minor flooding. A heavy rainfall event on March 3 was followed by a major winter storm on March 4 into early March 5. Two more heavy rainfall events occurred in quick succession. On the 9th and 10th, one to two inches of rain fell, followed by two to four more inches on the 13th and 14th. The combined effect of all these rain and snow events was a prolonged flooding event on the Ohio River. Since the precipitation was spread out over a 10-day period, the magnitude of the flooding was generally moderate instead of major.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (37.9280, -87.4745)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 562554. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.