Flash Flood — Craig, Virginia

2020-04-13 · near Given, Craig, Virginia

Event narrative

Route 614 was flooded by Craig Creek with over six inches of water reported across the bridge. The IFLOWS stream gage at this location was out of service at the time, but the upstream IFLOWS gage on Craig Creek near Abbott (ABBV2) crested at 11.6 feet. This was over the flood stage of 10 feet and the 2nd highest (highest is 11.9 feet in Oct. 2018 with remains from Hurricane Michael) in a fairly short period of record (back to 2010). A water rescue was also preformed in the Abbott area, where a car drove into flood waters.

Wider weather episode

A strong cold front extending from a complex surface low pressure system, brought intense thunderstorms which produced damaging winds and very heavy rain on April 12-13. The heavy rains resulted from a deep plume of tropical moisture lifted northward ahead of the cold front. Heavy rain began during the evening of April 12th and exited the region shortly after sunrise on the 13th, lasting roughly a 12-hour period. Between 1.5 and 4 inches of rain fell across the mountains and foothills, with isolated 5-inch amounts along the Blue Ridge. The intense rainfall rates and rapid runoff caused widespread flash flooding of small creeks and streams. Virginia Department of Highways (VDOT) reported very significant damage to road infrastructure across numerous counties with damage totals exceeding $1.2 million.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (37.5718, -79.9880)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 885524. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.