Flash Flood in Greene County, Missouri

Four to seven inches of rain fell over Greene County. Nearly all county roads experienced flooding. The Greene County Emergency Management Director stated that the county had insufficient barracades to block all flooded areas from motorists. An elderly couple was surveying flooded areas along the James River from a park in southeast Springfield when the river was rising so quickly that it eventually surrounded their vehicle and swept them into the river. The 67 year old husband died from a heart attack from the stress of being swept into the river. The wife was later rescued by the Rogersville Swift Water Rescue Team. The rescue attempt took two hours and the car was almost fully submerged by the time the rescue team had positioned themselves near the car.

Excessive rainfall developed over southern Missouri during the evening of 17 March. A line of training convection assumed a position roughly along a line from Anderson to Ozark to Licking. This convection expanded with time, eventually covering nearly all of extreme southeast Kansas and the Missouri Ozarks. Moderate to heavy rain continued into the overnight period and did not stop until the morning of 19 March.