Flood — Amherst, Virginia

2003-02-22 · Amherst, Virginia

Wider weather episode

Heavy rain over a long period of time caused small stream and urban flooding. A man who had been rescued once from the North Fork of the Roanoke River, returned to his truck with his father, and attempted to recover items from the truck. They remained trapped in the flood waters for several hours. The son died later that night in the hospital from hypothermia. Small stream and urban flooding was also reported across Botetourt, Pulaski, Patrick, Smyth, Rockbridge, Tazewell, Campbell, Franklin, Alleghany, Craig, Bland, Floyd, Amherst, and Roanoke counties. One man was killed when he tried to cross a low water bridge over Tinker Creek in Vinton. He was swept about 200 feet downstream and died. In addition nearly 3 million dollars in damage was reported to homes and business due to the flooding in Roanoke County, including Salem and the city of Roanoke. In Wythe County, flood waters caused damage to several homes. Across all the counties listed above numerous roads were closed by slowly rising flood waters.Flash flooding early on the morning of the 22nd in Paint Bank washed out Peters Mountain Road.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 5343784. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.