Flood — Spencer, Kentucky

2019-06-17 · near Wilsonville, Spencer, Kentucky

Event narrative

A vehicle attempted to navigate a flooded low water crossing that was flowing with water at the time. A family of four was in the vehicle. The mother and two children were rescued. The father's body was found several hours later downstream.

Wider weather episode

Between June 17-19, the Ohio Valley sat in a warm moist environment with a stationary front draped from northeast to southwest across Indiana and on through Texas. Little wind shear existed above central Kentucky. This provided several days where diurnal heating and shortwave forcing kicked off pulse storms with high rainfall rates. After a few days of this, the ground became more saturated and flooding became easier with each event.

On June 17th in Spencer County, A 40 year old man was traveling across a low water cross while the water level was elevated due to recent rainfall. The vehicle and the occupants were pushed into the creek. A woman and two children made it to safety, but the victim was found later downstream.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (38.1216, -85.4119)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 841676. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.