Flash Flood — Caldwell, Kentucky

2015-07-28 · near Black Hawk, Caldwell, Kentucky

Event narrative

Torrential rain caused flash flooding of a creek along the Caldwell/Trigg County border known as Long Pond Branch. Kentucky Highway 276 was washed out where the creek crosses the highway through a culvert. The washout was estimated to be about 20 feet deep and 60 feet wide where it crosses the highway. One vehicle entered the flooded creek and was swept approximately 300 yards downstream into Trigg County. The body of a 61-year-old woman was found inside the submerged and overturned vehicle. The incident was witnessed by a utility crew working on a power outage in the area. The crew watched as the road was washed out from under the car. Farmers in the local area measured about four inches of rain in two hours.

Wider weather episode

A mesoscale convective system moved southwestward across western Kentucky. The slow movement of the thunderstorm complex resulted in isolated flash flooding. The storms developed in the heat of the afternoon along a weak surface boundary that extended from southeast Illinois into northwest Kentucky. The storms then propagated southwest into a very moist air mass with surface dew points in the upper 70's. Strong gusty winds along the leading edge of this thunderstorm complex produced isolated tree damage in the Lakes region of west Kentucky.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (36.9603, -87.8771)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 587357. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.