Flood — Roanoke (c), Virginia

2021-05-04 · near Roanoke, Roanoke (c), Virginia

Event narrative

About 1.5 inches of rain from a thunderstorm fell during a 45 minute period. Runoff from the rainfall caused water to pond 12-18 inches deep at the intersection of Campbell Avenue and 10th Street SW, an intersection known to flood during heavy rainfall. The intersection closed by police, but was reopened after the water receded.

Wider weather episode

A large thunderstorm complex moved east from the Ohio and Tennessee Valleys across southwest Virginia. The system caused dozens of trees to be toppled across the region. Heavy rainfall from these storms also caused localized flooding in the City of Roanoke, where rainfall rates were in excess of 4 inches per hour at one point, between a 5-year and 10-year rainfall event per NOAA Atlas 14 Point Frequency Estimates. Rainfall amounts across the City of Roanoke ranged from 1.50 to 1.75 inches, not unusual for thunderstorm activity, but still enough to cause localized flooding given the more urbanized nature of the impacted area.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (37.2710, -79.9592)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 960022. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.