Flash Flood — Union, Kentucky

2018-02-24 · near Hitesville, Union, Kentucky

Event narrative

A water rescue was conducted near Mason Creek on Highway 359. A vehicle was swept off the roadway by the flash flood. Fire department dive team members recovered the body of the victim from the submerged car. The 77-year-old victim was a local farmer.

Wider weather episode

An outbreak of severe thunderstorms and tornadoes occurred across western Kentucky. Most of the severe weather was along and south of a Paducah to Madisonville line. North of that line, serious flash flooding resulted in a fatality. A surface low pressure center tracked rapidly north-northeast from Arkansas to the upper Mississippi Valley, dragging a warm front north across western Kentucky. Instability was adequate for tornadoes and severe storms in the presence of very strong wind shear. A very moist air mass resulted in heavy rainfall, which produced localized flash flooding due to the water-logged ground. Locally 5 to 6 inches of rain had fallen over the previous week. Rainfall rates in these thunderstorms were locally one-half to one inch per hour.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (37.7500, -87.8500)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 737279. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.