Flooding April 29 - 30 2014

Round 1 - Late April 28th into early on April 29th

The heavy rainfall totals of 2.5 to 5.0 inches were caused by the training (repeated movement over the same area) of strong to severe thunderstorms. Along with producing several strong tornadoes and large hail, these storms produced flash flooding/river flooding over a good portion of Dekalb county. The hardest hit areas were Fort Payne and Valley Head. The Big Wills Creek caused much of the flooding that occurred in the Fort Payne area. The creek rose quickly late Monday night into Tuesday morning, cresting at Moderate Flood Stage (13.93 feet). This is only 5 inches below the record flood at this site. (See the chart below on the left)

Additional flooding occurred in the city of Ardmore in northeastern Limestone County in Alabama, where between 3 and 5 inches of rain fell in a short period of time. The photo on the bottom right was taken at the overpass in downtown Ardmore, AL. (Notice the street sign covered halfway with water.)


A graph of the river stage for the Big Wills Creek near Fort Payne from 8 AM on April 25th through April 20th.	A picture of serious flash flooding occurring at an overpass in the downtown Ardmore community.

After the water has already receded, you can see how high the water rose in this home (~2-3 feet). Picture courtesy of Melissa Henry from the Fort Payne Times-Journal.	After the water receded, you can see quite a bit of debris carried by flood waters onto the playground in the Valley Head community. Picture courtesy of Melissa Henry from the Fort Payne Times-Journal.

Final Round - Late April 29th into early on April 30th

Final Round - 7 am April 29th through 7 am April 30th.	48 Hour Rainfall Totals for the Entire Event

The 2.0 to 2.5 inches of rainfall that occurred over northeastern portions of Madison County/northwestern portions of Jackson County with the first round of rainfall on April 28th/29th did not produce any flash flooding impacts. However, an additional 2 to 4 inches fell from 7 am on April 29 through April 30th. This fell on already saturated soil conditions and caused significant flooding in the Princeton community (northwestern Jackson County), where storm-total rainfall amounts reached between 5 and 6 inches by 7 AM on April 30th. This caused significant flash flooding as seen below.


This flooding occurred along Alabama Highway 65 in the Princeton community at 7 am on 4/30/2014 (Courtesy of Jonathan O'Rear).	A close-up picture of a house affected by flooding along Alabama Highway 65 in the Princeton community at 7 am on 4/30/2014 (Courtesy of Jonathan O'Rear).

This flooding occurred along Alabama Highway 65 in the Princeton community at 7 am on 4/30/2014 (Courtesy of Jonathan O'Rear).	A close-up picture of a second house affected by flooding along Alabama Highway 65 in the Princeton community at 7 am on 4/30/2014 (Courtesy of Jonathan O'Rear).