Flash Flood — Lowndes, Georgia

2024-11-07 · near Valdosta, Lowndes, Georgia

Event narrative

Patterson Street was flooded at Drexel Park.

Wider weather episode

A line of slow moving thunderstorms developed along a surface boundary across the Valdosta area and moved repeatedly over the same areas during the evening and overnight hours of November 6th. A record moist airmass for November standards was in place with dewpoints in the mid to upper 70s and precipitable water values well above 2 inches. This resulted in extremely heavy rainfall amounts centered over the Valdosta area with amounts near 10 inches in just a 6 hour period. The 1000 year Average Recurrence Interval for a 6 hour rainfall in that area is estimated to be 8.59 inches, so this was a very rare event. Impacts were catastrophic with numerous homes flooded in Valdosta. Known catastrophic flooding occurred in the Chadwyck Subdivision, perimeter circle, Floyd St, Dukes Bay, Lee Street, Pin Oak, Lakeland, and Sugar Creek areas. Catastrophic flooding was generally centered predominantly around the Browns Canal, Dukes Bay East and west, Knights Creek, and One Mile Branch tributaries. These natural drainage features move through Valdosta and cross public streets in dozens of locations along their reaches.

A second round of thunderstorms developed over Valdosta during the evening hours of November 7th with an additional 2-3 inches of rainfall and flash flooding.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (30.8447, -83.2865)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1215989. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.