Flash Flood — Botetourt, Virginia

2025-07-31 · near Gala, Botetourt, Virginia

Event narrative

Heavy runoff associated with nearly 3 inches of rain falling in a 90-minute period caused the Ball Park Road to flood and become washed out near the 2200 block. Radar-estimated rainfall rates at one point during the storms were as high as 6 inches per hour. FLASH 1-hour ARI rose as high as a 94 year event at 3:10 pm EDT, while the 1-hour QPE/FFG ratio rose to a maximum of 175 in the nearby area.

Wider weather episode

A hot and humid air mass combined with orographical lift to produce isolated severe thunderstorms across southwest Virginia. Damaging wind gusts from these storms blew down a few trees, and lightning from one of these storms struck a house and set it on fire in Bedford County.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (37.6673, -79.8606)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1293494. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.