Flash Flood — Chickasaw, Iowa

2016-08-24 · near Little Turkey, Chickasaw, Iowa

Event narrative

One person drowned when a vehicle was swept off the road by flood waters from the Little Turkey River. This occurred north of Lawler where Union Avenue crosses the river. The driver called 911 at 340 a.m.

Wider weather episode

Repeated rounds of thunderstorms with heavy rains moved across portions of northeast Iowa during the evening of August 23rd into the early morning hours of the 24th. This heavy rain produced flash flooding across portions of Mitchell, Howard, Chickasaw, Winneshiek and Allamakee Counties. One person drowned north of Lawler (Chickasaw County) when a vehicle was swept off the road by flood waters from the Little Turkey River. Two people had to be rescued from a cabin near Lansing (Allamakee County). Flood waters caused a basement to collapsed in Calmar (Winneshiek County) and evacuations were performed east of Decorah (Winneshiek County) because of rapidly rising flood waters along the Upper Iowa River. A Flash Flood Emergency was issued for these extreme events. Numerous roads were covered by flood waters in Mitchell County where sandbagging efforts occurred near Osage. Several schools had to close on the 24th because of the flooding. The Governor of Iowa issued a disaster proclamation for Allamakee, Chickasaw, Clayton, Fayette, Floyd, Howard, Mitchell and Winneshiek Counties. Damages from the flooding to public infrastructure was estimated at $2.4 million for Winneshiek County and another $1 million for Decorah (Winneshiek County).

View location on OpenStreetMap → (43.1496, -92.1405)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 656658. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.