Flood — Fayette, West Virginia

2025-02-16 · near Fire Creek, Fayette, West Virginia

Event narrative

The New River at Thurmond approached its bankfull level of 19 feet shortly after midnight on the 16th of February. After an initial crest just shy of bankfull before daybreak, the river eventually exceeded bankfull that afternoon. A second crest, just under 19.1 feet, occurred before waters gradually eased back below bankfull during the evening.

Wider weather episode

Light precipitation started to arrive on the evening of February 14th due to an approaching low pressure system, with more substantial rain spreading across the area overnight into the 15th as a warm front approached from the south. This promoted a brief instance of thunderstorms on the morning of February 15th, with damaging winds knocking down trees and power lines to parts of the state. While shower coverage diminished from southeast Ohio and northwest West Virginia during the afternoon, moderate to heavy rain continued to trail across northeast Kentucky, southern West Virginia, and southwest Virginia. This precipitation band lifted north with a front during the night, then the passing low pushed additional showers through with a cold front on the 16th. Rain turned to snow as cold air moved in behind the front, then light snow showers lingered into the 17th.

Three to five inches of rain fell across portions of southeast West Virginia. Two to three inches fell in southwest West Virginia. North of I-64, amounts ranged from one to two inches.

Widespread flooding led to many road closures across West Virginia. However, the worst impacts occurred in southeastern West Virginia where several communities experienced considerable to catastrophic damage. A flash flood emergency was issued for the community of Welch in McDowell County, WV, where flooding invaded multiple homes and businesses, stranded vehicles, and made roads impassable. A vehicle entered the floodwaters and was subsequently swept into the Tug Fork River, with only two of the five occupants surviving.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (37.9554, -81.0151)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1239951. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.