Flood — Wood, West Virginia

2018-01-12 · near Marrtown, Wood, West Virginia

Event narrative

Numerous roads were flooded across northern Wood County. Worthington Creek came out of its banks east of Parkersburg closing the intersection of Core Road and 36th Street. Old St. Marys Pike was also closed due to flooding on Worthington Creek. Water from Carpenter Run closed portions of Waverly Road near Waverly.

About 6 miles northeast of Parkersburg, a vehicle became stranded on Laurel Creek Road while trying to drive through high water from Laurel Creek. The SUV was washed into the creek before first responders arrived. There were two people in the vehicle, a father and daughter. Neither of them were able to escape the flood waters. Their bodies were found many hours later, after the water levels receded.

Wider weather episode

Strong moisture advection ahead of a southern stream low pressure system brought a prolonged period of moderate to heavy rainfall across the middle Ohio River Valley and Central Appalachians. The rainfall started during the evening of the 11th, and continued through most of the day on the 12th before changing to snow late in the day. Generally 1.5 to 2.5 inches of rain fell. Most of this rain immediately turned to runoff due to a combination of frozen and saturated soil. This caused some creeks and streams to flood.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (39.2576, -81.5675)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 727233. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.