Flash Flood — Sweetwater, Wyoming

2021-07-28 · near Blairtown, Sweetwater, Wyoming

Event narrative

Runoff from higher desert terrain and rain falling on an urbanized landscape led to flash flooding across western portions of Rock Springs.

Wider weather episode

Monsoon moisture moved into the state, bring abnormally high precipitable water levels. Thunderstorms formed and moved slowly within very light steering flow, with some storms becoming nearly stationary. At Rock Springs, over two inches of rain fell in under an hour, producing flooding across western portions of the city. Several roads were flooded and were impassable for hours. The force of the flowing water was enough to break basement windows. Numerous houses had up to six feet of water in basements with damage of 30 to 40 thousand dollars at some homes. The Rock Springs city council declared a disaster and state of emergency. To date, 59 people notified the council that their homes were effected by the flooding.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (41.6038, -109.2789)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 971334. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.