Flood — Randolph, West Virginia

2022-02-04 · near Mill Creek, Randolph, West Virginia

Event narrative

In the town of Mill Creek, the Tygart Valley River rose above its 11 foot bankfull level just before sunrise on the 4th, cresting at 12.24 around noon, then returned to its banks late that evening. Backwater from the river spilled onto portions of Route 39 while out of its banks.

Wider weather episode

An arctic cold front approached and passed through the area February 3rd into February 4th. Multiple waves of low pressure moved along this front, allowing for a slow moving system which provided plenty of rainfall, heavy at times, to the Ohio Valley and across West Virginia. Widespread precipitation accumulations of 2 to 3 inches fell with this system with isolated amounts of 3 to 3 and a half inches along the Ohio River in northwest West Virginia, which led to numerous flooding issues across the area. In addition to the rainfall, snowmelt from previous systems also assisted with causing flooding issues for the region.

Multiple rivers exceeded flood stage within West Virginia, the most notable along Middle Island Creek at Middlebourne and Little, West Virginia, where major flooding occurred along Routes 18 and 24. This also led to the buildings at the 4H campground near Middlebourne to flood, as well as the Tyler County fairgrounds. Many roadways throughout West Virginia were closed due to high water and water flowed into multiple residences in Harrison County. Additionally, in Ritchie County, the body of an elderly man was found after being swept away by floodwaters from the Hughes River flowing out of its banks.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (38.7340, -79.9633)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1001835. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.