Flood — Radford (c), Virginia

2020-04-13 to 2020-04-14 · near Radford, Radford (c), Virginia

Event narrative

The New River at Radford (RDFV2) crested at 16.48 feet late on April 13th. Moderate flood stage is 16 feet. The peak discharge of 60200 cfs was close to a 5-year annual recurrence interval event (0.20 annual chance flood) per USGS studies. Several roads close the river were flooded.

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 → (37.1235, -80.5942)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 890125. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.