Flood — Leslie, Kentucky

2019-02-23 · near Cinda, Leslie, Kentucky

Event narrative

A local news media outlet reported that a motorist crashed into Wolf Creek off of Stidham Road south of Cinda. The driver's body was later found trapped inside the car. Additionally, a bystander also died as a result of the flooded creek after he jumped in to try to save the driver. The creek was 3 to 4 times higher than normal, contributing to the death of both men.

Wider weather episode

Periods of rain worked back into eastern Kentucky early on February 20 as a warm frontal boundary lifted north across the Commonwealth. A cold front brought additional rainfall through the afternoon and evening, before drier conditions worked into eastern Kentucky during the morning of February 21.

Rain quickly spread back north that evening into the 22nd with southeastern Kentucky continuing to see prolonged light rain into the afternoon of the 23rd. A cold front brought additional rain to much of eastern Kentucky late on the 23rd.

A spike in moisture ahead of this front resulted in additional moderate to heavy rain and high rainfall rates across portions of eastern Kentucky late on the 23rd. The convection ahead of the cold front that evening resulted in the majority of the flooding and flash flooding issues across eastern Kentucky. Showers and thunderstorms capable of heavy rainfall trained over parts of Wayne, Pulaski, Rockcastle, and other counties along the I-75 corridor, resulting in deadly flash flooding and river flooding along the Cumberland River. Later in the evening, the bulk of the rainfall shifted north to counties along the Mountain Parkway. Flash flooding and river flooding occurred in Powell, Wolfe, Breathitt, Magoffin, and Johnson Counties. Lighter rainfall continued into the night as flooding issues remained widespread into the 24th.

Rainfall amounts from this event ranged from near 2 inches in portions of the Bluegrass region and northeast Kentucky, to greater than 4 inches across locations in southern and southeast Kentucky.

This additional water on top of saturated ground continued to promote mud and rock slides across eastern Kentucky, complete with power outages from fallen debris and trees. Pikeville experienced a massive rockslide early on February 22, resulting in several cars and a building being damaged. Other impacts included countless roads being inundated with standing water, pavement and water pipes breaking, water threatening homes, roads and bridges being washed away, and rising lake levels.

Of the 33 counties across eastern Kentucky, at least 27 were forced to declare State of Emergencies due to rainfall during and before this event. This included Knott County due to over $150,000 in county road damages. Beattyville, Clay City, Harlan, Hazard, Jenkins, Monticello, Paintsville, Pikeville, Salyersville, Stanton, West Liberty, and Whitesburg also declared State of Emergencies. Additionally, the Kentucky Governor declared a State of Emergency across the entire Commonwealth.

The persistent rainfall of the winter season and the amount of rainfall from this event led to Lake Cumberland reporting their highest lake level of 756.52 feet on February 26th, breaking the old record of 751.69 feet dating back to May 1984. As a result, Wolf Creek Dam had to release at a record discharge level of 59,880 cubic feet per second. Cave Run Lake also rose to within 6 feet of their record pool elevation. Buckhorn Lake came within 10 feet of their all-time record, partially resulting in Kentucky Highway 257 near Confluence having flood waters cover the highway isolating 40 to 50 families for three weeks following the end of the flooding rains.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (37.0856, -83.2904)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 804812. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.