Heavy Rain and Flooding - March 18th, 2008

Heavy rainfall occurred across portions of Southeast Kansas and the Missouri Ozarks Monday night through early Wednesday morning associated with a strong upper level storm system. Flash flooding and river flooding developed across the area from the heavy rain and the runoff. Record rainfall amounts were set at Joplin, Springfield, Vichy-Rolla and West Plains on Tuesday, March 18th. The month of March will go down as one of the wettest March’s on record at Springfield, Joplin, West Plains and Vichy-Rolla.


March 18, 2008 Record Rainfall
Location	Amount	Old March 18th Record	Old Daily March Record
Springfield	3.93"	2.75" 1889	3.35" March 31, 1927
Joplin	3.22"	1.42" 1984	2.81" March 10, 1974
West Plains	5.69"	1.29" 1975	4.21" March 27, 1977
Vichy-Rolla	3.80"	1.33" 1944	3.13" March 20, 1962

March Rainfall Records
Location	Amount As of March 20th	Current Rank	Wettest March on Record
Springfield	7.97"	5th	9.09" 1935
Joplin	5.53"	9th	9.04" 1973
West Plains	10.60"	1st	9.87" 2002
Vichy-Rolla	5.87"	4th	7.41" 1945

March 18-20, 2008 River Data
Location	River	Crest (ft)	Crest Rank	Historical Crest (ft)
Hazelgreen	Gasconade	34.58	1	34.46 12-03-1982
Joplin	Shoal Creek	18.33	1	17.24 6-11-1995
Galena	James	35.32	1	33.46 9-25-1993
Tiff City	Elk	25.19	2	(1) 28.40 4-19-1941 (2) 24.72 5-21-1957
Springfield	James	19.88	2	(1) 22.00 7-1-1909 (2) 19.45 9-25-1993
Mountain View	Jacks Fork	20.39	2	(1) 26.79 5-8-2002 (2) 17.68 4-24-2004
Edgar Springs	Big Piney	23.58	2	(1) 24.50 12-4-1982 (2) 20.70 12-27-1942
Jerome	Gasconade	30.43	2	(1) 31.34 12-5-1982 (2) 29.60 9-27-1993
Moorisville	Little Sac	19.92	3	(1) 25.54 8-20-2007 (3) 17.03 5-8-2002
Fort Leonard Wood	Big Piney	22.60	4	(1) 29.00 9-26-1993 (4) 21.00 5-9-2002
Tecumseh	North Fork of White River	22.79	5	(1) 35.00 8-1-1915 (5) 22.60 9-25-1993
Waco	Spring	27.09	8	(1) 34.06 9-26-1993 (8) 26.29 3-11-1974
Eminence	Jacks Fork	16.44	9	(1) 27.00 1-1-1904 (9) 16.32 9-25-1993
Springfield	Wilson Creek	9.46		(1) 12.7 No other data available
Carthage	Spring	18.38		(1) 22.0 No other data available
Greenfield	Turnback Creek	20.43		(1) 26.3 No other data available