Flash Flood — Boone, West Virginia

2025-07-20 · near Ashford, Boone, West Virginia

Event narrative

A local road and portions of a driveway and yard flooded in Ashford.

Wider weather episode

A stalled cold front settling over West Virginia set forth multiple days of active weather around the area from July 17th to the 21st. The boundary eventually slid north as a warm front on the 19th of July while a disturbance passed across the Great Lakes region and took aim for New England. A secondary cold front approached from the north and then sank down through the middle Ohio Valley and Central Appalachians on the 21st. During this time, the Middle Ohio Valley and Central Appalachians remained firmly entrenched in a warm, moist air mass that facilitated development of showers and thunderstorms in the daytime followed by lulls in activity during the overnight hours.

After an already active first half of the month, continued rounds of heavy downpours led to instances of flash flooding each day from the 17th through the 20th. In addition to flooded roadways, several structures were impacted in Boone and Wood Counties. On the 20th, three to four inches of rain in Lincoln County resulted in flash flooding that destroyed a bridge used as the primary access point for one community. In regards to severe weather during this stretch of activity, main impacts observed were downed trees and power lines leading to local power outages each afternoon and evening.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (38.1826, -81.7127)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1268350. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.