Flood — Roanoke (c), Virginia

2018-09-17 · near Roanoke, Roanoke (c), Virginia

Event narrative

A 53-year old woman was reported to have drowned in the Roanoke River during flooding from Florence although details were lacking in terms of location and timing. The Roanoke River at Roanoke (RONV2) crested at 11.41 feet (10,200 cfs) around mid-day on the 17th. Minor flood stage is 10 feet. Several low water bridges and the Roanoke Greenway were flooded and closed. This was the highest stage since September 30, 2015 and was roughly a 2- to 5-year flood event (0.5 - 0.2 annual chance flood).

Wider weather episode

Hurricane Florence made landfall on the far southeast North Carolina coast on September 14th and tracked very slowly across South Carolina before slowly re-curving across far western North Carolina and southwest Virginia as Tropical Depression and on into the Ohio Valley. Multiple incidents of strong winds, flash flooding and flooding occurred with Florence. The following counties were included in a subsequent Presidential Disaster Declaration: Botetourt, Franklin, Halifax, City of Martinsville, Patrick, and Pittsylvania. Several more counties were still working through the validation process: Charlotte, Craig, and City of Danville. The first rainfall of any significance reached southern Virginia on the 15th with about 1 to 3 inches falling by 12z (700 AM) on the 16th. Much heavier rainfall began to spread further northward during the afternoon and evening of the 16th prompting numerous Flash Flood Warnings and causing significant flood impacts. The highest observed rain amounts in Virginia within the HSA were over parts of southwest Floyd and northwest Patrick counties with over 8 inches in 24 hours (ending at 700 AM on the 17th) and 9 to 10 inches storm total. Willis 2.7 SE CoCoRaHS (VA-FL-6) had 9.59 inches in the 72-hour period ending 700 AM on the 18th.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (37.2523, -79.9422)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 786781. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.