Flash Flood — Lynchburg (c), Virginia

2019-08-01 · near Lynchburg, Lynchburg (c), Virginia

Event narrative

There were numerous reports of flash flooding around Lynchburg as 3 to 4 inches of rain fell in a few hours during the late evening. A tributary of Blackwater creek flooded a portion of Greenwood Drive, near Sandusky Drive and a tributary to Tomahawk Creek flooded, but did not affect any homes. A culvert under a portion of Lake Vista Drive in Forest collapsed due to the heavy runoff and was repaired by VDOT. Vehicles were reported to be stuck in water at 1200 Wythe Road and in the 3900 block of Old Forest Rd. Several other roads were reported to have flooded including Fort Avenue Drive and McConville Rd.

Wider weather episode

A slow moving upper level trough moving through the area, combined with weak steering flow aloft, and ample heat and humidity allowed for numerous slow-moving severe thunderstorms to develop across Virginia, bringing large and damaging hail and severe wind gusts. A barn was destroyed by severe wind, lightning caused an apartment fire and hail up to two inches in diameter fell in Roanoke City resulted in thousands of dollars in damage across Virginia. In addition, very heavy rainfall occurred especially in parts of northeast Bedford County and the City of Lynchburg where 3 to 4 inches of rain fell in several hours causing some flash flooding.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (37.4222, -79.1534)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 851666. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.