3,183 first-hand accounts of flood events in Kentucky, ranked by impact. Each is a NOAA-written narrative of the moment.
Three day rain totals, beginning on the 14th, totaled 4 to 6 inches. Louisa had 5.5 inches of rain, while Ashland measured 4.9 inches. Other cooperative measurements included 4.7 inches at Charley, 4.5 inches at Grayson Lake, and 4.1 inches at the Greenup Lock and Dam.
Read the full account →Moderate to major flooding of the Ohio River occurred. States of emergency were declared in McCracken, Livingston, Union, and Henderson Counties. Floodfighting activities included the construction of temporary sandbag levees.
Read the full account →A warm front moved slowly north across western Kentucky during the afternoon. Large clusters of thunderstorms produced very heavy rain. A cold front moved southeast into the Lower Ohio Valley during the night, preceded by more thunderstorms.
Read the full account →A slow-moving area of widespread showers and thunderstorms dumped several inches of rain during the morning. The storms occurred in a warm and very humid air mass in the vicinity of outflow boundaries from previous storms.
Read the full account →Two rounds of thunderstorms occurred across parts of western Kentucky. The heaviest rainfall from both rounds extended from northern parts of the Kentucky Lake region to northern parts of the Pennyrile region.
Read the full account →A mesoscale convective system that originated over the Missouri Ozarks maintained strength as it moved through the middle Mississippi Valley during the overnight hours. The system slowed down and then stalled as it crossed the Lower Ohio Valley very early in the morning.
Read the full account →On September 11th, moisture pooled along a pre-frontal trough during the early morning hours across southern Indiana and northern Kentucky. A modest low level jet brought a continuous source of moisture to an area of convection that developed across southern Indiana after…
Read the full account →Several roads were washed out, a roof collapsed from a bank and several homes were flooded across the county as up to 7 inches of rain fell from the late afternoon into the evening over about a 5 hour period.
Read the full account →A narrow band of thunderstorms became stationary from west to east across Union and Henderson Counties. The storms were anchored there by a warm front that stalled during the night. Rainfall amounts under this band of thunderstorms were from 5 to 10 inches.
Read the full account →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.
Read the full account →More flooding occurred across eastern Kentucky during the afternoon and evening hours of September 6th. Thunderstorms formed across central Kentucky ahead of a cold front during the afternoon hours on September 6th.
Read the full account →Flooding of the Ohio River occurred for most of the month of March. The flooding was considered moderate. The flooding was due to a prolonged active weather pattern that carried over from February.
Read the full account →Flooding of the Ohio River occurred for most of the month of March. The flooding was considered moderate. The flooding was due to a prolonged active weather pattern that carried over from February.
Read the full account →The Ohio River began its upward climb, approaching historic levels in places downriver from the Smithland area. The river rose above flood stage about mid-month. A series of heavy rainfall events gradually forced the river upward at an unsteady rate.
Read the full account →A severe weather outbreak occurred across eastern Kentucky during the late afternoon and evening hours of October 7th. Three confirmed tornadoes occurred in Bath and Pike counties (2 in Bath and 1 in Pike).
Read the full account →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.
Read the full account →A surface low pressure center moved northeast along the Ohio River. Thunderstorms in the warm sector of this low produced isolated flash flooding in western Kentucky.
Read the full account →Numerous thunderstorms during a 24 hour period produced cumulative rainfall totals near 5 inches. Water was 5 to 6 feet over roadways near the Clarks River. A few mobile homes and a couple of vehicles were flooded.
Read the full account →Severe thunderstorms on the evening of April 16 produced wind damage, hail, and tornadoes. At Windy in Wayne County, a barn was damaged by thunderstorm winds, and a spotter south of Brodhead in Rockcastle County estimated wind gusts of 60 to 70 mph.
Read the full account →A slow-moving band of thunderstorms with torrential downpours affected most of the Pennyrile region of West Kentucky. Storms earlier in the day had already saturated the ground, and this additional rain brought rainfall totals up to 5.66 inches at Princeton, 4.94 inches at…
Read the full account →A low pressure system moved from Louisiana on the morning of April 14th, to Eastern Kentucky later that evening. Once in Eastern Kentucky, the low pressure system slowed its movement considerably, as the system strengthened.
Read the full account →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.
Read the full account →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.
Read the full account →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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