Coastal Flood — Virginia Beach, Virginia

2025-10-12 to 2025-10-13 · Virginia Beach, 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 widespread major coastal flooding across Virginia Beach on October 12 and 13. Lynnhaven Inlet reached 6.17 ft MLLW at 1 PM EST on October 12 which was the second highest crest ever recorded at that site. Lynnhaven also reached 5.37 ft MLLW at 1226 AM on October 13 and 5.21 ft MLLW at 130 PM EST on October 13. The Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel reached 6.37 ft MLLW at 1242 PM EST on October 12 which was the third highest crest ever recorded at that site.

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 1297663. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.