Flood — Bland, Virginia

2017-04-23 to 2017-04-24 · near Rocky Gap, Bland, Virginia

Event narrative

Wolf Creek was reported out of its banks along Eagles Road.

Wider weather episode

Several waves of low pressure moved across the area as an upper level low closed off over the southeastern U.S. Signiifcant rainfall began early on April 22nd over far southwest Virginia and the rainfall persisted on and off over the next four days with mainly moderate rates (0.10' to 0.25' per hour) as the upper low drifted very slowly eastward from the lower Mississippi Valley toward the southeastern states. 24-hour totals ending 12z (0700 EST) on the 23rd ranged from less than 0.50 inches over the James River basin up to 1.25' to 1.75' across parts of the Roanoke, New and Dan basins. The heaviest rains April 23-24 fell across the western and central river basins with amounts ranging from 2 to 5 inches. Another 1 to 3 inches with isolated higher amounts fell mainly across the foothills and piedmont in the next 24-hours. Storm total rainfall for the four-day period ending at 12z (0700 EST) on the 25th ranged from 3 to 9+ inches with highest amounts in parts of the Blue Ridge mountains and foothills in Patrick, Carroll and Henry counties. Busted Rock #2 IFLOWS (BUEV2) led the way with 9.53 over the 4-day period. Widespread small stream flooding resulted with numerous larger rivers that approached or exceeded flood stage including portions of the Clinch, New, Roanoke and Dan rivers. Return frequency intervals for the flooding were generally in the 5-year to 10-year range (0.20-0.10 annual exceedance probability), but close to 20-year (0.05 AEP) in the lower Dan River. Numerous roads were closed by flooding in at least a dozen counties.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (37.2434, -81.1035)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 686470. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.