Flood — Galax (c), Virginia

2024-09-27 · near Galax, Galax (c), Virginia

Event narrative

Chestnut Creek at Galax (CCKV2) crested at 11.46 feet (6,230 cfs) at 1915 UTC/3:15 EDT on Sept. 27th due to heavy rain associated with Tropical Storm Helene. This is the third highest crest in the history of this gage, and the highest crest since November 2003. This crest rates between a 10-year Average Recurrence Interval (ARI)(0.1 Annual Exceedance Probability (AEP)) and a 25-year ARI (0.04 AEP) per USGS StreamStats. The flooding was the result of between 8 and 11 inches of rain that fell across the Chestnut Creek basin between the 25th and 27th, with totals ranging anywhere from between a 200-year and more than a 500-year ARI per NOAA Atlas 14 Point Precipitation Frequency estimates. Extensive flooding occurred in the northern end of the City of Galax, where homes and businesses along Meadow Street and Givens Street were flooded with up to 2 feet of water on the right bank-side of the river. On the left bank-side, flooding from the creek entered a large industrial building between Highway 58 and Webster Street. Drone imagery indicated that the Grayson Street bridge over the creek was inundated by several inches of water. Further upstream, Chestnut Creek flooded across Coal Creek Road from near the intersection with Pipers Gap Road to the 300 block of Coal Creek Road. This stranded multiple residents that have to cross the creek to leave their properties.

Wider weather episode

Hurricane Helene made landfall in Florida as a powerful Category 4 hurricane late Thursday, September 26, and moved quickly northward into the southeastern states, and then turned slightly northwestward towards the southern Appalachian Mountains overnight into Friday morning, weakening as it moved over land. Helene's intensity and fast forward motion led to impacts being felt well inland, from the Florida Big Bend area into the Appalachians, almost only 12 hours after landfall, and there was extensive damage in southwest Virginia. Widespread cellular service and power outages, some lasting for several days, occurred as high winds downed thousands of trees across the region. Winds gusted as high as 55 mph to 65 mph in southwest Virginia. There were three confirmed tornadoes associated with the remnants of Hurricane Helene in the Piedmont of Virginia. Flooding impacts from Hurricane Helene were extensive across the area, and were exacerbated by a predecessor rainfall event that occurred a day before Helene reached the region, which brought six to eight inches of rain to the mountains prior to the arrival of the remnants of Helene. The three day rainfall totals associated with the remnants of Hurricane Helene were highest Grayson and Smyth Counties, where observations of 10 to locally 15 inches of rain were recorded. The Piedmont of Virginia received much less rain, between one and two inches, with a couple areas around three inches. Total economic losses for Virginia, which include Virginia's agriculture, forestry, and other industries, are expected to range between $416 million and $630 million per an economic analysis released by Virginia Tech researchers.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (36.6682, -80.9238)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1208652. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.