diff --git a/app/vmstorage/main.go b/app/vmstorage/main.go
index 8c0209a77..7888d99bb 100644
--- a/app/vmstorage/main.go
+++ b/app/vmstorage/main.go
@@ -30,6 +30,7 @@ var (
 	vmselectAddr      = flag.String("vmselectAddr", ":8401", "TCP address to accept connections from vmselect services")
 	snapshotAuthKey   = flag.String("snapshotAuthKey", "", "authKey, which must be passed in query string to /snapshot* pages")
 	forceMergeAuthKey = flag.String("forceMergeAuthKey", "", "authKey, which must be passed in query string to /internal/force_merge pages")
+	forceFlushAuthKey = flag.String("forceFlushAuthKey", "", "authKey, which must be passed in query string to /internal/force_flush pages")
 
 	finalMergeDelay = flag.Duration("finalMergeDelay", 30*time.Second, "The delay before starting final merge for per-month partition after no new data is ingested into it. "+
 		"Query speed and disk space usage is usually reduced after the final merge is complete. Too low delay for final merge may result in increased "+
@@ -146,6 +147,16 @@ func requestHandler(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request, strg *storage.Storag
 		}()
 		return true
 	}
+	if path == "/internal/force_flush" {
+		authKey := r.FormValue("authKey")
+		if authKey != *forceFlushAuthKey {
+			httpserver.Errorf(w, r, "invalid authKey %q. It must match the value from -forceFlushAuthKey command line flag", authKey)
+			return true
+		}
+		logger.Infof("flushing storage to make pending data available for reading")
+		strg.DebugFlush()
+		return true
+	}
 	if !strings.HasPrefix(path, "/snapshot") {
 		return false
 	}
diff --git a/lib/storage/storage.go b/lib/storage/storage.go
index 4a548e417..fcc5f9bb2 100644
--- a/lib/storage/storage.go
+++ b/lib/storage/storage.go
@@ -206,8 +206,8 @@ func (s *Storage) RetentionMsecs() int64 {
 	return s.retentionMsecs
 }
 
-// debugFlush flushes recently added storage data, so it becomes visible to search.
-func (s *Storage) debugFlush() {
+// DebugFlush flushes recently added storage data, so it becomes visible to search.
+func (s *Storage) DebugFlush() {
 	s.tb.flushRawRows()
 	s.idb().tb.DebugFlush()
 }
diff --git a/lib/storage/storage_test.go b/lib/storage/storage_test.go
index 73c744d70..8eb31ea06 100644
--- a/lib/storage/storage_test.go
+++ b/lib/storage/storage_test.go
@@ -597,7 +597,7 @@ func testStorageDeleteMetrics(s *Storage, workerNum int) error {
 			return fmt.Errorf("unexpected error when adding mrs: %w", err)
 		}
 	}
-	s.debugFlush()
+	s.DebugFlush()
 
 	// Verify tag values exist
 	tvs, err := s.SearchTagValues(accountID, projectID, workerTag, 1e5, noDeadline)