Flood — Summers, West Virginia

2021-03-01 to 2021-03-02 · near Hilldale, Summers, West Virginia

Event narrative

The Greenbrier River at Hilldale (HLLW2) crested at the minor flood stage of 21.38 feet (56,200 cfs) at 1:00 am EST on March 2nd. This crest ranked just under a 10-year average return interval per USGS StreamStats, and is the 9th highest crest for this gauge since 1936. Portions of Highway 12 were observed flooded within a quarter mile upstream from the gauge. Multiple homes along the right bank just downstream of the gauge were surrounded by water, but are elevated/on stilts. Flooded was limited to areas below the living space of these homes.

Wider weather episode

Multiple waves of low pressure passing along a cold front approaching from near the Ohio River resulted in several rounds of prolonged and, at times, heavy rain across northern and western portions of Greenbrier County. In the 72-hour period ending 7 am on March 1st, the northwestern half of the county had received between 2.5 to locally 4 inches of rainfall from shower and thunderstorm activity. Snow pack prior to the arrival of the rainfall was confined to the highest elevations of the western half of the county, where 2 to locally 4 inches was on the ground. Portions of Pocahontas County to the north, where the upstream reaches of the Greenbrier River are located, had up to 9 inches of snow pack. Nearly all remaining snow in both counties melted with this rainfall, contributing to the runoff entering the local rivers by the morning of the 1st, when widespread minor to moderate river flooding occurred. On March 3rd, Gov. Jim Justice included Greenbrier County among eighteen total West Virginia counties in a declared State of Emergency due of the flood damage. Heavy rain moved south during the early hours of the 1st, impacting Mercer County with more localized flooding that caused a road closure.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (37.6407, -80.8062)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 947323. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.