Flash Flood in Craig County, Virginia

The Virginia Department of Transportation was dispatched to Caldwell Mountain Road to address damage caused to the road due to flash flooding. The road was rendered impassible until repairs could be completed.

A line of thunderstorms developed over eastern Craig County at around 4:00 PM EDT and quickly spread eastward over the Catawba Creek basin in neighboring Botetourt County. Multiple cells trained over this area through around 6:45 PM EDT before exiting to the south. These storms formed along a stationary front situated across central Virginia. Convergence along the front provided focus for initiation of the storms, which were supported with surface-based CAPEs exceeding 2,000 J/Kg, and precipitable water values in the 1.7 to 1.8 inch range, which are nearly 2 standard deviations above normal for mid-June. By 5:00 PM EDT, roughly 2 inches of rain had fallen across eastern Craig County, with no impressive response in MRMS FLASH data. An additional 2 to 2.5 inches fell by 6:00 PM EDT however, with FLASH 3-hour ARI indicating at 200+-year event across eastern Craig County. Surprisingly, there did not appear to be any flash flooding warning issued for this event. By 7:00 PM EDT, the 3-hour QPE/FFG ratio indicated that rainfall totals were slightly over 3 times the 3-hour flash flood guidance for the area.