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Kentucky Flood Stories

3,183 first-hand accounts of flood events in Kentucky, ranked by impact. Each is a NOAA-written narrative of the moment.

Flash Flood$500K damage

Greenup, KY · May 10, 2011

Repetitive showers and thunderstorms, moved southeast through southeast Ohio and into portions of northeast Kentucky between 1500E and 1830E on Tuesday, the 10th. In northeast Kentucky, the heaviest rains fell in eastern Greenup County and Boyd County.

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Flash Flood$500K damage

Lee, KY · Jun 20, 2011

During the overnight and early morning hours of Monday, June 20th, numerous strong to severe thunderstorms wreaked havoc on portions of eastern KY. Between 2 and 5 am EDT, numerous trees were blown across Laurel, Bell, Knox, and Whitley counties.

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Flash Flood$500K damage

Lee, KY · Jun 20, 2011

During the overnight and early morning hours of Monday, June 20th, numerous strong to severe thunderstorms wreaked havoc on portions of eastern KY. Between 2 and 5 am EDT, numerous trees were blown across Laurel, Bell, Knox, and Whitley counties.

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Flood$500K damage

Marshall, KY · May 1, 2011

Widespread flooding continued from April into May across western Kentucky. Following excessive rain in April, a final dose of heavy rain came between April 30 and May 2.

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Flood$500K damage

Hopkins, KY · May 1, 2011

Widespread flooding continued from April into May across western Kentucky. Following excessive rain in April, a final dose of heavy rain came between April 30 and May 2.

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Flood$500K damage

Ballard, KY · May 1, 2011

Heavy rainfall in March set the stage for major flooding when record-setting rains fell in April and May. At Paducah, 15.91 inches of rain fell in April, which was 10.96 inches above normal.

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Flood$50K damage

Marion, KY · Aug 11, 2014

Early on Sunday, August 10th, a nearly stationary front stretched from weak low pressure in Arkansas northeast along the Ohio River. This boundary became a focus for repeated episodes of slow moving heavy thunderstorms throughout the day, and even into Monday.

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Flash Flood$10K damage

Jefferson, KY · Aug 14, 2020

During this period, a stationary front extended near the Ohio River. This served as a focus for the development of isolated severe thunderstorms, but the main event was heavy rainfall that broke out during the early morning of August 14th.

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Flash Flood$1.0M damage

Wolfe, KY · Jun 16, 1997

Three to five inches of rain within a 1 to 3 hour period resulted in extensive flash flooding. In Powell County about 50 homes and a dozen businesses sustained flood damage, and numerous roads had to be closed.

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Flash Flood$1.0M damage

Carter, KY · May 5, 2003

Along a warm frontal boundary, about a half inch of rain fell during the morning. Training thunderstorms developed during the evening, ahead of a cold front. Rains of 2 to 3 inches fell in about 3 hours from around Olive Hill on southeast toward Grayson Lake and Hitchins.

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Flash Flood$100K damage

Jefferson, KY · Oct 5, 2013

Multiple rounds of heavy tropical-like showers began Saturday, October 5th and continued through Sunday morning. This episodic convection developed within an unseasonably moist airmass south and east of a stalled boundary.

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Flash Flood$10K damage

Carlisle, KY · Jul 3, 2016

Multiple clusters of thunderstorms intensified during the heat of the day along and south of a warm front that arced over far southern Illinois and across southern Kentucky. The storms occurred ahead of an upper-level disturbance over eastern Missouri.

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Flash Flood$10K damage

Christian, KY · Jul 6, 2016

Major flash flooding occurred from the evening of July 6 through the early morning of July 7. A slow-moving thunderstorm complex backed slowly southwestward across western Kentucky and southern Illinois.

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Flash Flood$10K damage

Calloway, KY · Jul 7, 2016

Major flash flooding occurred from the evening of July 6 through the early morning of July 7. A slow-moving thunderstorm complex backed slowly southwestward across western Kentucky and southern Illinois.

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Flood$1.0M damage

Butler, KY · Mar 1, 1997

The Green River crested at 30.7 feet at Rochester at 1000 am est on March 7 (flood stage is 17 feet). This is the second biggest flood next to January 1950. Many homes were flooded out in Rochester and Woodberry along the river.

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Flood$1.0M damage

Breckinridge, KY · Mar 2, 1997

Record rainfalls from late Friday evening February 28 through Sunday morning March 2 and additional heavy rainfall on Tuesday March 4 caused the worst flooding on the Ohio River since 1964 and in some spots since 1937.

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Flood$1.0M damage

Edmonson, KY · Mar 2, 1997

The Green River crested at 30.7 feet at Rochester at 1000 am est on March 7 (flood stage is 17 feet). This is the second biggest flood next to January 1950. Many homes were flooded out in Rochester and Woodberry along the river.

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Flood$1.0M damage

Hart, KY · Mar 2, 1997

The Green River crested at 30.7 feet at Rochester at 1000 am est on March 7 (flood stage is 17 feet). This is the second biggest flood next to January 1950. Many homes were flooded out in Rochester and Woodberry along the river.

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Flood$1.0M damage

Boyd, KY · Mar 20, 2002

Light rain moved into northeast Kentucky during the predawn hours of the 19th. Light to moderate rainfall fell during the 19th, as a warm front tired to lift north from the Tennessee Valley.

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Flood$1.0M damage

Carter, KY · Mar 20, 2002

Light rain moved into northeast Kentucky during the predawn hours of the 19th. Light to moderate rainfall fell during the 19th, as a warm front tired to lift north from the Tennessee Valley.

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Flood$1.0M damage

Breathitt, KY · May 9, 2009

Some of the worst flooding that residents of Owsley, Breathitt, Floyd, Magoffin and Pike counties could remember took place on May 9th, 2009. A series of severe supercell thunderstorms that moved repeatedly over the same areas were the culprit of the disastrous flooding.

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Flood$1.0M damage

Franklin, KY · May 3, 2010

A stalled cold front over the Mississippi Valley spawned thunderstorms producing heavy rain from northern Mississippi through middle Tennessee and central Kentucky into southern Indiana.

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Flood$10K damage

Leslie, KY · Jul 8, 2016

Multiple rounds of showers and thunderstorms moved across eastern Kentucky between this morning and early evening. As a complex of storms moved east through central portions of Kentucky during the late morning and early afternoon hours, increasing moisture and daytime heating…

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Flood$2.1M damage

Henry, KY · Mar 1, 1997

Record 24 hour rainfall from early March 1 through early March 2 at most spots on the order of 6 to 12 inches caused widepread flooding with numerous roads water covered and closed and hundreds of rescues from cars trapped in water and people trapped in flooded homes.

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