Flash Flood — Martinsville (c), Virginia

2023-06-19 · near Martinsville, Martinsville (c), Virginia

Event narrative

Multiple roads were flooded and impassible by several inches of flowing water across the roadways due to slow moving thunderstorms that produced rainfall rates at 3 to 4 inches per hour. This includes flooding on Rives Road and Memorial Boulevard. The roads were reopened after flooding receded. No damage was reported.

Wider weather episode

A stacked low over the Ohio Valley pulled a warm front through the Southside Region of Virginia in the afternoon. The upper level support from upper level disturbances rotating around the low allowed storms to develop and grow in intensity as surface-based CAPE (Convective Available Potential Energy) values increased into the 1,000 to 1,500 J/Kg range. There were scattered areas of wind damage from thunderstorm winds. In addition, precipitable water values rising into the 1.5 to 1.7 inch range supported heavy downpours, especially in areas of the Piedmont where storms were observed to be slow-moving and passed repeatedly across the same locations.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (36.6720, -79.8585)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1114891. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.