May 18, 2018 Rapid City Heavy Rain and Flash Flood

Overview

Late in the afternoon on May 18, 2018, a localized thunderstorm moved over Rapid City and dumped two to three inches of rain in about an hour. Runoff from the heavy rainfall flooded streets and low-lying areas. Rapid Creek quickly rose and overflowed its banks near the Fairgrounds. In Rapid City, several water rescues were performed by the fire department. The heaviest rainfall fell over the Robbinsdale area, where the runoff filled a detention pond near the park and tore up sections of asphalt on Fairlane Drive. Several vehicles were pushed by the rushing water and one vehicle ended up in the Robbinsdale Park detention pond.

• Flooding
• Rainfall

Flooding

Radar/Photos

Radar Storm Total Accumulation with Rainfall Reports	Animation of Radar Reflectivity

 

Water-swept Truck (Rapid City Fire Dept.)	Water-swept Car (Rapid City Fire Dept.)	Water-damaged Asphalt (Rapid City Fire Dept.)	Flooding of Robbinsdale Pond (Pennington Co. Sheriff's Dept.)

 

— Rapid City Fire Dept (@RapidCityFire) May 19, 2018

 

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Rain Reports

Rainfall Reports around the Rapid City Area

Location	Amount	Source
Rapid City 2SSE	2.60	CoCoRaHS
Rapid City NWS	1.79	Rapid City NWS Employees
Rapid Creek at Founders Park	1.32	USGS Automated River Gage
Box Elder Creek near Rapid City	1.06	USGS Automated River Gage
Rapid City 4.7E	0.90	CoCoRaHS
Rapid Creek below Hawthrone Ditch	0.71	USGS Automated River Gage
Rapid Creek at Water Reclamation Facility	0.71	USGS Automated River Gage
Rapid City 3.4 WNW	0.67	CoCoRaHS
South Canyon near Rapid City	0.64	USGS Automated River Gage
South Rapid Foothills	0.50	Private Weather Station
Wild Irishman Gulch near Rapid City	0.25	USGS Automated River Gage
Rapid City Airport	0.21	ASOS
Rapid City RAWS	0.19	RAWS
Box Elder 1.6NE	0.13	CoCoRaHS
Ellsworth Airforce Base	0.08	ASOS

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