Flash Flood — Daviess, Kentucky

2015-07-03 · near Moseleyville, Daviess, Kentucky

Event narrative

A series of thunderstorms produced rainfall rates estimated by radar up to three inches in two hours. A car was swept off Highway 140 West by rapidly flowing floodwater. The vehicle was found about two hours later, submerged in a deep ditch with rapidly flowing water. The driver was pronounced dead at the scene. Just prior to the fatality, the fire department had assisted another vehicle stranded in floodwaters in the same vicinity. In other parts of Daviess County, sections of U.S. Highway 431 and Kentucky Highway 81 were closed due to high water.

Wider weather episode

Numerous thunderstorms occurred along a very slow-moving cold front that extended from northwest Arkansas to the Lower Ohio Valley. The storms produced excessive rainfall and isolated flash flooding, as well as minor river flooding. The storms were aided by a weak 700 mb trough that moved southeast across southwest Indiana and southern Illinois. Cell motions were very slow and erratic, along with some cell mergers and backbuilding cells. The air mass was characterized by tropical humidity, with precipitable water values around 1.8 inches. The deep-layer wind flow was roughly parallel to the surface frontal boundary, allowing training of cells over the same areas. Pockets of sunshine and strong heating destabilized the atmosphere, further supporting convective development.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (37.6700, -87.2000)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 588935. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.