Flash Flood — Trempealeau, Wisconsin

2015-09-06 to 2015-09-07 · near Eleva, Trempealeau, Wisconsin

Event narrative

Flood waters from Adams Creek went over State Highway 93 just north of Eleva and U.S. Highway 10 on the east side of Eleva. One business and one home suffered major damage from the flood waters. The business, a food wholesaler, suffered damage to a food storage building, had around 30% of their frozen food inventory destroyed and several diesel trucks were damaged causing an estimated $400 thousand in damages. The home suffered major damage when the basement completely filled with water and the main floor was also covered with water. Six other businesses in Eleva sustained minor water damage. The flood waters along the Buffalo River caused the Buffalo River State Trail to be shut down west of Eleva into Buffalo County.

Wider weather episode

During the evening of September 6th, thunderstorms developed north of a nearly stationary front across the west central portions of Wisconsin. The first round of thunderstorms produced some locally heavy rains and damaging winds. A tree was blown down onto a house in Merrillan (Jackson County) and another house near Warrens (Monroe County) sustained roof and siding damage from the winds. A second round of thunderstorms then developed and moved very slowly over the same area as the previous storms. With already wet soils, the heavy rain from this second round of storms produced flash flooding across the very northern sections of Trempealeau County into northern Jackson County and southern Clark County. In Eleva (Trempealeau County), flood waters covered State Highway 93 and U.S. Highway 10 and caused around $400 thousand in damage to a food business. Numerous homes and businesses in Osseo sustained water damage from flooding along the North and South Forks of the Buffalo River. The flood waters covered or washed out numerous roads in Jackson and Clark Counties. Two accidents occurred in Jackson County when people tried to drive their vehicles over water covered roads that had been washed out. The dam at Emerson Lake (Clark County) was damaged by the flood waters with repairs estimated at almost a quarter of a million dollars. State of Emergencies were declared in Jackson and Trempealeau Counties. Total damages were estimated at $1.8 million in Trempealeau County, $800 thousand in Clark County and $400 thousand in Jackson County.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (44.5900, -91.4700)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 598058. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.