Flash Flood — Stone, Mississippi

2021-06-19 · near Whites Crossing, Stone, Mississippi

Event narrative

Heavy rain caused water to cover the road in these areas.

Wider weather episode

Potential Tropical Cyclone Claudette moved west of the Alabama coastal waters on the evening of June 18th, 2021. Claudette was declared a Tropical Storm and made landfall in southeast Louisiana during the early morning hours of June 19th. Claudette then turned northeast across southeast Mississippi and across south central Alabama during the morning on Saturday June 19th.

Tropical Storm Claudette produced frequent tropical storm-force wind gusts across coastal Alabama and the western Florida Panhandle. A few areas of the coast, such as Dauphin Island, Fort Morgan, and the Okaloosa Island Fishing Pier recorded a brief period of sustained minimal tropical storm-force winds.

The highest wind gusts were associated with strong to severe thunderstorms that developed well east of the center of Claudette. These storms most significantly impacted the western Florida Panhandle. The highest wind gust observed was 81 mph at Pensacola International Airport. A Weatherflow site in Santa Rosa Sound recorded a 70 mph wind gust, which was from the same line of storms that resulted in the Pensacola gust. This line of storms produced wind damage in parts of the Pensacola Metro, especially in Ferry Pass. Pace also experienced pockets of wind damage, including one mobile home that lost its roof

The highest winds recorded were sustained winds of 45 mph with gusts to 70 mph in Santa Rosa Sound, 58 mph with gusts to 81 mph at Pensacola Airport, 42 mph with gusts to 52 mph at Okaloosa Island fishing pier. In Mobile Bay, 40 mph with gusts to 49 mph at Buccaneer Yacht Club.

Storm surge inundation ranged from 1-3 feet above normally dry ground across southern Mobile County into Mobile Bay. This flooding resulted in the closure of a few roads, such as Shell Belt Rd in the Bayou La Batre and Coden communities and the US Highway 90 Causeway over Mobile Bay. The highest storm tide recorded was 3.67 ft MHHW at the NOS tide gauge on the Bayou La Batre bridge. In addition to the storm surge, surf heights of 6-12 feet battered the Gulf facing beaches. This impacted the west end of Dauphin Island with a portion of Bienville Blvd closed due to flooding and sand over the road. The Florida side of the Gulf Islands National Seashore was closed for several days due to flooding and sand on roads.

Claudette produced 3 tornadoes in southwest and south central Alabama: A long track EF-2 tornado that impacted Escambia and Conecuh Counties, an EF-0 tornado in rural Covington County, and an EF-0 tornado in far southern Mobile County.

A widespread 3-6 of rain fell across coastal Alabama into the western Florida Panhandle. 6-9 of rain was recorded over parts of interior southeast MS, with a station in far western Stone County, 11 miles west of Perkinston, recording 9.43. This rainfall resulted in instances of flash flooding and river flooding across the area.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (30.8664, -89.0667)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 970621. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.