Coastal Flood — Chesapeake, Virginia

2025-10-12 to 2025-10-13 · Chesapeake, Virginia

Event narrative

A coastal low lingering off the Southeast coast on October 12 resulted in a prolonged period of elevated northeast to north winds across the Chesapeake Bay. This led to moderate coastal flooding across the city of Chesapeake on October 12 into October 13. Sewell's Point reached 6.18 ft MLLW at 130 PM EST on October 12. Money Point reached 6.59 ft MLLW at 206 PM EST on October 12. The Western Branch of the Elizabeth River reached 6.52 ft MLLW at 2 PM EST on October 12 and the Elizabeth River at Midtown Tunnel reached 6.50 ft MLLW at 154 PM EST on October 12. Additionally, the intersection of Bainbridge Boulevard an Freeman Avenue was nearly impassable due to approximately 18 to 24 inches of water across the road.

Wider weather episode

A coastal low formed off of the Southeast coast on October 11 and slowly tracked north into October 13 before moving offshore. Meanwhile, a strong 1035mb area of high pressure lingered over the Gulf of Saint Lawrence. This resulted in a prolonged period of strong northeast to north winds across the Chesapeake Bay and coastal waters, which allowed for widespread moderate to major coastal flooding across eastern Virginia and the Virginia Eastern Shore on October 12 into October 13.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1297177. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.