Flood — Roanoke (c), Virginia

2016-06-15 · near Roanoke, Roanoke (c), Virginia

Event narrative

News and social media provided numerous photos and videos of urban flooding in the City of Roanoke. Up to six people were rescued or escorted by EMS crews from stalled vehicles around the city. Shaffer's Crossing on Boulevard Street SW is a favored location for urban runoff and a driver was retrieved by boat from this location.

Wider weather episode

Convection developed along a warm front during the late afternoon and evening of the 15th with pockets of very heavy rainfall. Thunderstorms moved across the Roanoke metro area with rainfall of 1 to 2.5 inches in about one hour. Urban flooding was observed in various flood prone locations across parts of the city with six water rescues reported from cars stranded in high water. The most intense measured rainfall around the Roanoke area was at Tinker Creek S. IFLOWS (TKSV2) with 2.05' in 1 hour, somewhat higher than the 10-year annual recurrence interval per NOAA Atlas 14. At the Roanoke/Blacksburg Regional Airport ASOS (ROA) the 1.91' in 24 hours for the 15th (12am-12am) was the 2nd highest for the date (after 2.16' in 1948).

View location on OpenStreetMap → (37.2932, -79.9784)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 643212. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.