Flash Flood — Jefferson, Missouri

2015-07-01 to 2015-07-02 · near Kimmswick, Jefferson, Missouri

Event narrative

Up to 7 inches of rain fell in a short amount of time onto already saturated soils causing flash flooding. The main band of heavy rain extended from northwest of Cedar Hill southeastward to southeastern Jefferson County, south of Festus. Four vehicles were swept off of Meyer Road, just west of intersection with U.S. Highway 67, when Buck Creek rose well above its banks. All four vehicles were swept downstream but only two were occupied, the other two had been in a nearby parking lot. Two bodies were found further downstream, a 35 year old female and a 50 year old female. Authorities say that the owners of the other two vehicles have been accounted for. Several rescues had to be performed including on Montauk Drive just off of U.S. Highway 67, about 2 miles north northeast of Olympian Village. Also, a levee was over topped on Plattin Creek next to Lakeside Manor Mobile Home Park. Four to five feet of water flooded the mobile home park. Sixty to seventy people had to be rescued. Three people were injured and brought to a local hospital. Numerous businesses were flooded. One business had about a dozen ATVs damaged or ruined by the flood waters. Mercy Hospital in Crystal City had to close its emergency department for a couple of days when flood waters came into that area of the hospital, the rest of the hospital remained open. Several homes along Cotter Creek, off of Hillsboro Victoria Road near intersection with Highway P, were damaged/destroyed from flood waters as the creek quickly rose there. One person had to be rescued after her vehicle was swept into Cotter Creek by the flood waters. She was clinging to a tree for over an hour before being rescued. Several roads were washed out due to the flash flooding. Damage to the roads and bridges was estimated around $1.5 million with total damage estimated close to $3-4 million.

Wider weather episode

Several rounds of storms moved through the south half of Missouri on July 1st-2nd. The heaviest rains fell over central and southwestern Missouri as well as a swath of very heavy rain from Franklin County southeast through Jefferson and Ste. Genevieve Counties.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (38.3515, -90.3675)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 598154. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.