Flash Flood — Buckingham, Virginia

2012-03-24 · near Toga, Buckingham, Virginia

Event narrative

Heavy rainfall of 2 to 4 inches in several hours caused several small streams to flood including Greasy Creek southwest of Buckingham. After the flooding receded, the County Sheriff's Office said deputies found a deceased 61-year-old woman inside a pickup truck several days after she was reported missing. The truck was found on its side and wedged against a tree, about 300 yards from a dirt driveway that crossed Grease Creek. The sheriff's office said a preliminary investigation indicated that flood waters disabled the truck and carried it downstream when the driver tried to drive across the flooded low-water crossing.

Wider weather episode

A closed upper level low crossed the Appalachians from the Tennessee Valley. Meanwhile, a dry slot formed ahead of this feature allowing for increased instability over the mountains and foothills and promoting the development of discrete supercell storms. The storms evolved into a quasi-linear convective system as they moved east across central and southside Virginia. The storms displayed considerable rotation on radar and over a half dozen tornado warnings were issued although no tornadoes were reported. The hail reports from this event were prolific with numerous reports of quarter to golfball size and some almost as big as baseballs. Other reports were of pea to marble size hail covering the ground to depths of 4 to 6 inches. Rainfall amounts of 1 to 3 inches were also common with local amounts of 3 to 5 inches causing flash flooding. There was flood fatality in Buckingham County where the driver tried to cross a low-water crossing at a flooded stream and the vehicle was carried downstream. The excessive runoff also resulted in minor river flooding along parts of the lower Roanoke and Dan Rivers. The USGS gauge on the Falling River near Naruna in Campbell County rose almost 10 feet in 6 hours, cresting at 14.42 feet (Flood Stage - 11') early on the 25th. 48-hour rain gauge totals ending 8 AM EDT on March 25th included 4.23 at Raven Rock Church IFLOWS (Patrick County), 4.13 at Ferrum IFLOWS (Franklin Co.), 3.95 at Slate Mtn, IFLOWS (Floyd Co.) and 3.51 at Doe Run Church IFLOWS (Patrick Co.).

View location on OpenStreetMap → (37.5045, -78.6540)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 374708. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.