User:Bettymnz4/Mid- to Late March 2008 southern Midwest floods

This map shows the borders of Kentucky's counties. The Mississippi River is the western-most border.

This map shows the border of Tennessee's counties. The Mississippi River forms the western boundary of the state.

This map shows the borders of Illinois' counties. The Mississippi River forms its western border and the XXXXXXXX river forms is southeastern border. Most of the counties lying south of where the XXXXXX River begins to form the border straight west to the Mississippi River were affected by these floods. A few interior counties in the north-central part of this region escaped.

useful websites[edit]

Probably the most useful would be http://www.crh.noaa.gov/images/pah/pdf/pahmar08.pdf Which is storm data from the NWS office in Paducah for March 08. It would be nice if the other offices put storm data on their websites, but alas, they make it rather hard to find. And then a couple other websites you can play around with: the National Climatic Data Center: http://www4.ncdc.noaa.gov/cgi-win/wwcgi.dll?wwEvent~Storms , where you can get details for almost literally each report filed to the National Weather Service, and then Iowa Environmental Mesonet, which has archives for a ton of stuff, but can be a little hard to navigate around. It would be most useful for getting exact text from warnings: http://mesonet.agron.iastate.edu/archive/ . A couple of local news sites will hopefully have things, WSIL and KFVS. The NCDC has a ton too, but even I haven't really messed around with it. Southern IllinoisSKYWARNGot something to say? 02:59, 8 April 2010 (UT

Early Spring 2008 Midwest floods March 2008 Midwest floods Total precipitation amounts throughout the region on March 17, 18, and 19 Duration: March 17 – Early May Damages: Unknown Fatalities: 17[1] Areas affected: Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Arkansas, Missouri, Texas, Oklahoma, Wisconsin and Tennessee

March 2008 Midwest floods were a massive flooding event in the Southern Midwest and portions of the Southern Plains. Cape Girardeau, Missouri officially reported 11.48 inches (29.2 cm) between March 18 and 19.[2] At least 17 people died as a result of the flooding.[1] Levee breaks were observed in several areas, most notably in Southeastern Missouri, where levee breaks occurred through mid-April.[3] [4]

Meteorological synopsis[edit]

The National Weather Service posted flood watches stretching from Dallas, Texas, to Scranton, Pennsylvania, starting March 16. Two strong low-pressure centers developed along a stationary front that stretched along this line. One was located in the southern region of Illinois, and the other was located near San Antonio, Texas. The northern low – combined with strong upper level winds – dragged large amounts moisture north from the Gulf of Mexico. The southern low produced severe weather and heavy rain on its north side. At one point, the national weather radar composite showed a large shield of heavy rain stretching from Texas to northern Indiana. River flooding continued through May in some areas, causing additional problems where flash flooding from the heavy rains struck. Numerous locations in Arkansas reported record rainfall totals from March into early April.

River flooding[edit]

A house nears a bridge in northern ArkansasRiver flooding continued through March and into April; even stretching to early May in a few areas. Several river gauges throughout the Midwest and southeast were in major flood stage.[9] Some of the worst river flooding of the event occurred in the western suburbs of St. Louis, Missouri, along the Meramec River; 451 homes were damaged in this area. River flooding stretched from Wisconsin to Louisiana by mid-April; some of the flooding to the north was exacerbated by ice jams after record snowfall during the winter.

Impact[edit]

Current River overflowing its banks in Van Buren, Missouri.

Deaths[edit]

The death toll associated with the flooding was 17. Five deaths occurred in Missouri. Others were killed in a highway wreck due to heavy rain in Kentucky, and a 65-year-old woman in Ohio appeared to have drowned while checking the sump pump in her home. In southern Illinois, two bodies were found hours after floodwaters swept a pickup truck off a road. Also in Missouri the body of a 19-year-old man was found about 2 miles downstream from where he was reported swept into a creek the previous evening.

Regional impacts[edit]

The flooding closed a number of roads in Missouri around the Meramec River, and threatened to force the closure of Interstate 44 at Valley Park.[10] Unlike the Great Flood of 1993, which affected this same region, the majority of homes and businesses in Valley Park were protected from the flooding by a new levee built in 2005. In Kentucky, the flooding resulted in scattered road closures and flooded basements. In Covington, city crews used sump pumps to keep high water off the streets. High water from Banklick Creek also forced Kenton County's Pioneer Park to close. Emergency managers in Posey County, Indiana declared a state of emergency and Vanderburgh County, Indiana and the city of Evansville were also under states of emergency for a short time. Schools in Henderson and Union Counties were closed due to the flooding, and U.S. 60 at the line between the two counties was shut down because of landslides. Numerous roads were closed because of flooding in the Louisville, Kentucky area: Old Vincennes Road at Buttontown Road and Clover Creek and Hamby Road and Borden Road at U.S. 150.

Aftermath[edit]

The Federal Emergency Management Agency denied flood recovery grants and loans to Illinois. Fifteen counties in southern Illinois applied for the assistance. In Illinois, 39 homes were destroyed, 150 others had major damage, and 145 businesses were flooded. Out of those 145 businesses that needed repairs after the floods, 74 of the buildings were in Harrisburg, Illinois.[18]

References[edit]

^ a b c AP writers (2008-03-19). "17 deaths linked to severe weather" (in English). ABC news. http://www.abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=4499930. Retrieved 2008-03-19. ^ "Historical data" (HTML). National Weather Service. 2008-03-19. http://www.crh.noaa.gov/crnews/display_story.php?wfo=pah&storyid=13741&source=0. Retrieved 2008-03-19. ^ a b "Summary of March 18-19 flood event" (HTML). National Weather Service forecast office Paducah, Kentucky. 2008-03-21. http://www.crh.noaa.gov/crnews/display_story.php?wfo=pah&storyid=13796&source=0. Retrieved 2008-04-13. ^ "Temporary Levee Breaks Near Poplar Bluff - Shelter now Open" (in English). KFVS12.com. 2008-04-12. http://www.kfvs12.com/Global/story.asp?S=8156830. Retrieved 2008-04-13. ^ a b AP writers (2008-03-19). "13 deaths linked to severe weather" (in English). CNN.com. http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/03/19/severe.weather.ap/index.html. Retrieved 2008-03-19. ^ Corfidi (2008-03-18). "Tornado Watch 132" (HTML). Storm Prediction Center. http://www.spc.noaa.gov/products/watch/2008/ww0132.html. Retrieved 2008-04-16. ^ AP writers (2008-03-24). "Eastern Arkansas braces for predicted historic flooding" (HTML). CNN.com. http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/weather/03/23/severe.weather.ap/index.html. Retrieved 2008-03-24. ^ "More info on the record rains in March and early April" (HTML). National Weather Service forecast office Little Rock, Arkansas. 2008-04-12. http://www.srh.noaa.gov/lzk/html/pns041208txt.htm. Retrieved 2008-04-15. ^ "Heavy Rain/Severe Weather on March 17-19, 2008" (HTML). National Weather Service forecast office Little Rock, Arkansas. 2008-03-28. http://www.srh.noaa.gov/lzk/html/rain0308b.htm. Retrieved 2008-03-29. ^ a b c Tuft, Carolyn - O'Neil, Tim (2008-03-24). "Rivers recede, road crews reopen Highway 141" (HTML). STLtoday.com. http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/commutingtraffic/story/68F9400060F4C0F0862574160013838E?OpenDocument. Retrieved 2008-04-13. ^ Ratcliffe, Heather - Hampel, Paul - O'Neil, Tim (2008-03-25). "Cleaning up, gauging damage from flooding" (in English). STLtoday.com. http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/stlouiscitycounty/story/D26699DF5CBED53E86257417000F1F9D?OpenDocument. Retrieved 2008-04-13. ^ "Flooding along the Rock and Bark Rivers" (HTML). National Weather Forecast office, Milwaukee/Sullivan, Wisconsin. 2008-04-14. http://www.crh.noaa.gov/crnews/display_story.php?wfo=mkx&storyid=14107&source=0. Retrieved 2008-04-15. ^ a b Kettler, Shannon; Noll, Jessica (2008-03-19). "Flooding Problems In N.Ky." (HTML). wcpo.com. http://www.wcpo.com/news/local/story.aspx?content_id=08f142c7-b399-46f8-9c07-ae649ced9d30. Retrieved 2008-04-13. ^ Vanderburgh County Emergency Management Agency via WEHT (2008-03-18). "Vanderbugh County State of Emergency". Press release. http://www.news25.us/dsp_story.cfm?storyid=5790&RequestTimeout=500. Retrieved 2008-04-13. ^ Poesy County Emergency Management Agency via WEHT (2008-03-18). "Poesy County State of Emergency". Press release. http://www.news25.us/dsp_story.cfm?storyid=5790&RequestTimeout=500. Retrieved 2008-04-13. ^ Geist, Kelly (2008-03-19). "River Hits Crest" (HTML). Kentucky Post. http://www.kypost.com/news/local/story.aspx?content_id=3ec59498-f6c1-4628-84bb-6bfb7c12344c. Retrieved 2008-04-15. ^ Cunningham, Sarah; Adams, Harold (2008-03-18). "Rain pours over Louisville, raising worries over floods" (in English). Louisville Courier-Journal. http://www.courier-journal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080318/NEWS01/303180020/1008/NEWS01. Retrieved 2008-04-15. ^ Kruger, Ryan (2008-04-15). "Southern Illinois Denied Help From FEMA" (in English). wsiltv.com. http://www.wsiltv.com/p/news_details.php?newsID=4740&type=top0. Retrieved 2009-06-23. [edit] External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Spring 2008 Midwest floods

National Weather Service Paducah, Kentucky summary page National Weather Service Little Rock, Arkansas summary page National Weather Service Springfield, Missouri summary page Categories: Floods in the United States | 2008