Flash Flood — Rock, Wisconsin

1998-08-05 · near Janesville, Rock, Wisconsin

Wider weather episode

A series of thunderstorms, slowly moving northeast at 10 mph, trained through the Janesville to Milton area. This round of an additional 1 to 4 inches brought the day's total to 6 to 10 inches based on WSR-88D Doppler radars. The resultant flash flooding damaged the basement contents in about 70 homes, washed out some gravel shoulders on roads, and peeled back the pavement on a couple roads. Water levels on some area streets reached 3 to 4 feet. A 13-year old boy was injured in Janesville's Palmer Park after being swept into a culvert. He was under water for about 9 minutes. One Janesville home was destroyed when its basement wall collapsed. The surging waters busted out windows in several other homes. Another Janesville home was destroyed when one sidewall crumbled from the force of waist-high water. The Janesville Elks Club's parking lot sustained pavement damage. Nearby farm fields had water depths of 2 to 5 feet in low spots, with resultant damage to the corn crop. The synoptic reasons for this flooding can be found in the August 4th entry for flash flooding in Columbia Co.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 5664603. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.