NATIONAL STORM SUMMARY

NOVEMBER 2003

9th-15th...Locally heavy rain soaked parts of the Ohio Valley and caused
flooding
Wednesday, while snow blew across the northern Plains into the upper Great
Lakes. Showers spread across parts of Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky and
West Virginia during the first half of the day. The rain also extended
eastward into Pennsylvania, Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey, New York
and southern parts of the New England states. Moderate to heavy rain fell
across northeastern Kentucky, southeastern Ohio and western and northern West
Virginia.
Up to 2.5 inches of rain fell in West Virginia, where several counties closed
schools because of road flooding. Several residents were evacuated from an
apartment building that was threatened by high water, and a mobile home was
washed off its foundation near Salem, authorities said. Schools also were
closed in three southeastern Ohio counties because of submerged roads. The wet
weather pushed toward the south and east, and by afternoon had produced a
narrow band of thunderstorms stretching from Arkansas through the southeastern
corner of Missouri and across northern Kentucky. Showers lingered in West
Virginia, Virginia and Maryland. Strong wind blew across the Plains, with gusts
in eastern Nebraska reaching 52 mph at Tekamah, 48 mph at Fremont, 46 mph at
Omaha and 40
mph at Lincoln. A slowly moving area of low pressure spread welcome rain across
wide areas of the Southwest, with showers scattered over southern California,
the southern tip of Nevada, wide areas of Arizona, and parts of New Mexico and
the Texas Panhandle.
Cecilia Perez stood in what was left of her living room Thursday and surveyed
the damage from a freak storm that flooded her rental house with 2 feet of
water, mud and debris. Perez, 24, and her father spent the night huddled on a
raised mattress supported by chairs as icy water poured in waves through the
door of their home in the Watts section of Los Angeles. The storm dumped about
5 inches of hail and rain on parts of Los Angeles County during a two-hour
period Wednesday night, creating a winter white landscape in some areas that
looked more like Minneapolis than Los Angeles. Flooding from the downpour
damaged dozens of homes, stranded hundreds of motorists and knocked out power
to more than 100,000 homes and businesses. Hardest hit were urban communities
like Watts and neighboring South Gate and Compton. Firefighters reported
rescuing more than 100 people from waist-deep waters. Los Angeles County
Supervisor Yvonne Brathwaite Burke called on Gov. Gray Davis to declare a state
of emergency. Mayor James Hahn visited Watts, where residents shoveled hail and
slush from streets lined with stalled, water-logged cars. Juan Diaz, 26, said
most of the cars on his block wouldn't start. The night before, torrents of
water had flooded his back seat. The National Weather Service said the powerful
thunderstorm had developed for several days from a low pressure area off the
coast. It picked up subtropical moisture before moving inland then stalled over
southern Los Angeles County when the wind died down. It dumped a total of 5.3
inches of rain south on the most heavily hit areas but less than an inch in
downtown Los Angeles, about 10 miles to the north. The most rain ever recorded
in a 24-hour period in downtown Los Angeles was 7.33 inches from Dec. 31, 1933
to Jan. 1, 1934, said National Weather Service meteorologist Curt Kaplan.
The wind blew mightily across the Midwest and into the Northeast on Thursday,
knocking out power in some areas. Gusts over 40 mph were common, including 52
mph in Ann Arbor, MI, 60 in Cleveland, 63 in Erie, PA, 52 in Philadelphia, 55
in Buffalo, NY, and 43 in New York City. Rain fell in Maine, Vermont, New
Hampshire and eastern Massachusetts. Light snow was found in northern portions
of New York, western Pennsylvania, eastern Ohio and Michigan.

16th-22nd...An apparent tornado damaged more than a dozen homes in rural
Mississippi on Tuesday as violent storms pushed through the state and parts of
Louisiana and Texas. No injuries were reported. The twister was reported in
central Mississippi, said Lea Stokes, a spokeswoman for the state Emergency
Management Agency. Twelve houses and at least three mobile homes were damaged,
she said. Tornado warnings were issued elsewhere across the state, which was
hit
with heavy rain and strong wind. Showers and thunderstorms remained in the
forecast for much of the day as the system tracked east into Alabama. Parts of
Harris County, which includes Houston, received as much as 10 inches of rain in
24 hours, with runoff flooding highways, covering vehicles and stranding
motorists. East of Houston, at least three homes were destroyed and others were
damaged, with several injuries. Other possible twisters damaged or destroyed
nine homes in the Beaumont-Port Arthur area in southeast Texas. Waterspouts
reportedly rose from Lake Pontchartrain, prompting officials to temporarily
close the 24-mile causeway spanning the lake, and high winds and bursts of rain
swept across metropolitan New Orleans.
A storm system plowed through the central Appalachians into the Eastern
Seaboard with heavy rain Wednesday, causing flooding that blocked roads and
drove some people from their homes. Schools were closed in parts of West
Virginia and North Carolina because of flooding, the downtown area of one
Virginia town was inundated and tornado watches were posted during the morning
for areas scattered from Florida into West Virginia's Eastern Panhandle. No
injuries were reported. Up to 8 inches of rain fell in northwestern North
Carolina. About 4 inches fell in 24 hours in parts of West Virginia. Floods and
rock slides blocked parts of more than 100 West Virginia roads, and many
secondary roads in western North Carolina were flooded, officials said. Streams
also overflowed in southwest Virginia, and water was 3 feet deep in downtown
Bluefield after three creeks spilled over their banks, Town Manager Todd Day
said.