Flash Flood — Mercer, West Virginia

2024-09-26 · near Princeton, Mercer, West Virginia

Event narrative

The Mercer County 911 Center reports that Sparkles Road was washed out forming a deep trench and exposing a gas line. No injuries were reported, but an elderly resident need assistance to leave his home in the direct area due to the flooding. The damage estimate is the estimated cost of repairing the road.

Wider weather episode

An upper level low was situated in the vicinity of western Tennessee, while a strong upper ridge was positioned over the southeast coast, which helped to steer Hurricane Helene into the Florida Big Bend during the evening of September 26. Ahead of Helene, the Predecessor Rainfall Event (PRE) that developed on the 25th continued to intensify as upper level areas of low pressure rotating around the upper low continued drawing deep tropical moisture from the Carolina coastal region, which supported nearly continual waves of showers and storms over southeast West Virginia through the day. Through the 26th, rivers and creeks began to rise as four to eight inches of rain fell through the day mainly along and west of the Interstate 77 corridor.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (37.3694, -81.1096)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1219035. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.