Catastrophic flooding occured in Mid-Missouri last night, but the threat isn’t over
Last night, a line of training thunderstorms set up just along and south of I-44, and with it came extreme rainfall rates. Each storm cluster had a rainfall rate of 1-2 inches or more in one hour, driving up rain totals and triggering flash flood warnings in portions of Central Missouri.
In about 12 hours, areas near Rolla and Vienna picked up 6-8 inches of rain, while areas like Iron and Reynolds Counties picked up over 10-11 inches. This triggered a rare flash flood emergency as multiple reports of water rescues and flash flooding were received throughout the area.
This event was officially calculated to be a 1-in-1000-year rainfall event, meaning there is a 1-in-1000 chance that a rainfall event of this magnitude occurs every year. While all of this was occurring, storms were still strong enough to produce damaging winds and hazardous conditions, causing impacts to areas like Phelps County.
This also broke records, as the Black River at Annapolis crested at 28.73 feet due to the impressive rainfall totals. The old record was 27.38 feet, set back on November 14th, 1993.
This led to an extremely dangerous and historic situation, and the bad news is that more rainfall and persistent thunderstorms could be on the way this evening.
Due to this potential for persistent thunderstorms over the same areas, particularly the ones that have already received excessive rainfall totals, a moderate or 3/4 outlook for excessive rainfall has been issued for areas like Vienna and Rolla. There are also areal flood watches and warnings in effect for almost everyone south of I-70, as the already saturated ground will not need much in order to see flooded roadways and hazardous conditions make a return.
On a broader scale, everyone in Mid-Missouri has the chance to pick up at least 1-2 inches of rainfall, but for those south of I-70, especially near the I-44 corridor, there will be a high likelihood that at the very least, 3-4 inches of rain will be observed during the later evening and overnight hours.
If needing to travel, the most important thing to remember is that if you come across a flooded roadway, turn around, don't drown. It takes just 12 inches of water to carry away most cars, and just 2 feet of rushing water to carry away SUVs and trucks. This was certainly observed last night, and with the current forecast, flooded roadways will be a top concern heading into the overnight hours tonight into the early morning hours of tomorrow.
