Flash Flood — Logan, West Virginia

2012-03-15 · near Big Creek, Logan, West Virginia

Event narrative

The worst flooding in terms of damage, was along the west to east flowing Mud Fork. The Mud Fork basin drains through small communities such as Troy Town, Shegon, and Verdunville. Around Mt Gay, the Mud Fork joins with the Copperas Mine Fork and Island Creek, before they empty into the Guyandotte River. Smaller tributaries such as Coal Branch and Lower Dempsey Branch were also flooded. Island Creek around Monaville was also flooded. One resident along Mud Fork said, cars were going down the road like tic-tacs floating. The children at the Verdunville Elementary School remained safe in the school until the water receded.

Ten homes were destroyed, 76 suffered major damage, and 133 homes had minor damage. Around 400 families were eligible for federal assistance in Logan County.

The Allied Health Building that houses the Southern West Virginia Community and Technical College had about 18 inches of water on the first floor. Many of the students vehicles in the parking lot were flooded. The flood prone businesses in Mt Gay were flooded, but most had insurance.

Wider weather episode

A mid and upper level disturbance dropped southeast during the morning. Well south of any organized surface front, the air was moisture laden. This triggered rounds of showers and thunderstorms dropping from southeast Ohio into southern West Virginia during the early morning hours. The ground was already wetter than normal. The emerging spring vegetation had not become a major consumer of water. The strongest thunderstorms did contain some hail, but small stream flooding was the main issue.

Repetitive showers and thunderstorms occurred from the Dingess area of Mingo County on east to the city of Logan in Logan County. Lincoln County was also hit. Rain amounts of 2 to 3 inches were common in about 4 hours during the morning. For example, in downtown Logan, 2.69 inches of rain fell at the river gauge between 0700E and 1100E. The heaviest hourly rate was 1.67 inches between 0800E and 0900E. Another automatic gauge at the Logan airport had 2.66 inches in the same 4 hour time span. An automatic gauge at the headwaters of Mud Fork, on the mountain ridge at Lomi, reported 2.2 inches of rain in over 6 hours. A spotter in Chapmanville reported 2.5 inches of rain by 1200E. The Logan cooperative observer reported a 24 hour rain total of 4.17 inches, but hourly rates were not obtainable.

Small streams rose rapidly during the mid morning with flooding by late morning into the afternoon. More showers fell during the afternoon, but these did not contribute much to severity of the flooding. Most small streams crested in the early afternoon.

Another federal disaster was declared, mainly as a result of the damage along Mud Fork in western Logan County. However, Lincoln and Mingo Counties were included in the disaster declaration. In the aftermath, the peak deployment of West Virginia National Guard troops in Logan County was 167 in operations and 20 in support roles. See FEMA disaster number 4061 for more details.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (38.0000, -82.0500)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 370568. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.