Flash Flood — St. Joseph, Indiana

2016-08-15 to 2016-08-16 · near North Liberty, St. Joseph, Indiana

Event narrative

Emergency management officials reported widespread flooding and flash flooding across portions of the county from North Liberty into the South Bend/Mishawaka area to the state line. The most extensive, and in some cases life threatening, flash flooding occurred in the city of South Bend where over a dozen roads were closed due to a foot or more of water flowing over the roads. Several homes were impacted by flood waters with basement/foundation damage to at least 2 homes that required evacuation/rescue of the homeowners. Many others were displaced across the city and outlying county areas. The flood waters lifted a local media outlets car off the road and onto a rail along the road, allowing the occupants to escape before it flipped over. Rainfall reports of 4 to 8 inches were recorded in a short period of time as precipitable waters of over 2.2 inches advected into the area. Many roads remained closed for several days as flood waters were slow to recede. Damage totals were $5,100,000. Under FEMA guidelines, a total of 845 homes were affected. Of those 300 suffered significant damage and 180 were deemed catastrophic.

Wider weather episode

A tropical air mass worked north out of the Gulf States as weak low pressure deepened and moved into the western Great Lakes. The high moisture content, combined with very efficient rainfall processes allowed for a period of widespread rain across the forecast area. As the main area moved north, additional stronger showers developed and moved over the same area, across northwestern Marshall County into much of St. Joseph County Indiana. Localized rain amounts exceeded 8 inches. In addition to the flooding, a low topped supercell raised havoc mainly across portions of central Indiana. The supercell moved into portions of Grant, Wabash and Huntington counties were numerous funnel clouds sighting were reported and recorded.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (41.5633, -86.4887)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 658591. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.