Flood — Grayson, Virginia

2024-09-26 to 2024-09-28 · near Peachy Bottom, Grayson, Virginia

Event narrative

The Little River at Peach Bottom (LPBV2) crested at 22.45 feet at 1815 UTC/2:15 EDT on Sept. 27th due to heavy rain associated with Tropical Storm Helene. This stage-only gage was installed by the Virginia Dept. of Emergency Management during spring of 2024, so had no previously-documented flood crests to compare this event with. The flooding was the result of between 10 and locally 16 inches of rain that fell across the Little River basin between the 25th and 27th, with totals ranging anywhere from between a 200-year and more than a 1,000-year ARI per NOAA Atlas 14 Point Precipitation Frequency estimates. Downstream of the gage, much of Little River Road on the left bank was inundated up to four feet deep from flooding of the river. Multiple properties on the right bank had water inundation, but unclear as to how much. Several trees were bent over or snapped due to the force of the water. At the gage on Old Baywood Road, a large pile of debris was lodged against the bridge over the river. Part of the road at the intersection of Little River Road and Old Baywood Road was sunken and nearly washed out, but remained passable to traffic. The width of flowing water during the peak of the flood event was estimated to be over 400 feet wide across Baywood Road based on high water marks. Further upstream, at least three camper homes were flooded along River Bottom Lane near the intersection with Cold Springs Lane. The flooding washed out a roughly 200-foot length of River Place, stranding several residents that used the drive to enter or leave their homes. No homes on River Place experienced flooding, however anything between the road and the river was flooded during the event.

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 → (36.5832, -81.0425)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1208694. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.