Flash Flood — Wirt, West Virginia

2024-04-11 to 2024-04-12 · near Morristown, Wirt, West Virginia

Event narrative

High water was observed along sections of Tuckers Creek Road.

Wider weather episode

Showers and thunderstorms developed on the afternoon of April 11th due to the combination of unseasonably warm temperatures and a passing disturbance. Storms crossed in from the Ohio River Valley during the early afternoon and continued an eastward progression into the evening. A swath of tree damage and power outages were observed from Mingo County to the eastern half of the West Virginia from damaging wind gusts. Storms pressed eastward late on the evening of April 11th.

In addition, numerous areas of flooding transpired that afternoon and evening in response to heavy downpours and training storms throughout the state. The Charleston airport set records for the wettest April as a result of observing 3.32 inches of rainfall on April 11th, breaking the old record of 1.83 inches set back in 1965.

High water issues along state roads were the main impacts from the flooding, some of which needed water rescues for cars that drove into these trouble spots. Excess water eventually drained into the Ohio River on the 12th and 13th of April, returning to its banks a few days later. One fatality occurred in Wood County on the 14th, when a motorist drove past high water signs and their vehicle became submerged.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (39.0372, -81.4904)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1172422. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.