Flood in Butler County, Missouri

The Black River rose rapidly above flood stage on the 30th, climbing about 14 feet in 18 hours. The flooding reached the major category as the month was closing out. A drowning occurred when a vehicle was swept off a county road outside of Harviell. The drowning victim was a 69-year-old woman, whose body was found inside her vehicle on May 2. The Black River continued rising beyond the end of the month.

Significant flooding developed after two more thunderstorm complexes dumped heavy rain, bringing three-day rainfall totals up to a foot in isolated locations. A large complex of thunderstorms moved southeast across southeast Missouri during the evening hours of the 29th. The storms occurred near a surface cold front which sagged southward across southern Missouri during the evening. This deluge of heavy rain brought flash flooding to the Ozark foothills. During the overnight hours through the early morning of the 30th, an even larger complex of thunderstorms dumped widespread very heavy rain. This complex occurred along the same front, which moved back north as a warm front across southeast Missouri. These storms caused considerable flash flooding. They also accelerated rises in area rivers, which were already above flood stage in some cases. The rainfall total for the three-day period from April 28 to April 30 was 12.25 inches at Ellsinore in Carter County from the public. A public report of 12.01 inches was received from Old Appleton, near the Perry / Cape Girardeau County line. In Perryville (Perry County), a Cocorahs observer measured 9.87 inches. North and west of a line from Dexter to Sikeston, there were numerous reports of rainfall in the 5 to 10 inch range, including 9.60 inches at Williamsville (Wayne County), 9.21 inches at Patterson (Wayne County), 8.90 inches at Van Buren (Carter County), 7.76 inches at Marble Hill, 6.54 inches at Poplar Bluff, and 5.65 inches at the Cape Girardeau riverfront. Lesser amounts were reported in far southeast counties bordering western Kentucky.