A Virginia dam is in danger of failing sometime soon because of the heavy rain that has caused problems across the state.
What We Know:
- Virginia residents living below the Spring Valley Dam in Roanoke, Virgina were told to evacuate their homes around 1 a.m. Thursday morning. Police and Firefighters went door to door alerting residents to the threat. According to a press release from the city of Roanoke, there are about 13 houses in the affected area.
- Thursday morning rescuers also responded to a least three swift water rescues in the city.
Around 10:50pm, Roanoke Fire-EMS was dispatched to the intersection of Bennington St and Edgerton Ave SE for persons trapped in a vehicle in flooded waters. Units arrived to find three occupants in the vehicle who were rescued by swift water crews. No injuries were reported. pic.twitter.com/d3B68b310W
— Roanoke Fire-EMS (@RoanokeFireEMS) May 21, 2020
- Thankfully, no injuries were reported as of Thursday from the flood in the Roanoke area. The danger for additional flooding continued as forecasters from the NWS Weather Prediction Center forecasted more heavy rainfall to the Mid-Atlantic.
- A southwest Virginia city received the heaviest two-day rainfall in almost 14 years with 6.34 inches. The average rainfall for the entire month of May is only 4.06 inches.
- The Roanoke River was projected to crest at 16.6 feet, more than 6 feet above flood stage.
- In Salem, Virginia, a landslide shoved mud, rocks, and trees onto a road, blocking traffic and threatening homes.
- The NWS office tweeted: “Areas of flooding and localized flash flooding will continue or worsen today as an additional one to four inches of rain fall. This will result in more water covered roads so please Turn Around Don’t Drown!”
The Flooding in Virginia comes as Michigan faces what the state’s governor called a “500-year” flood that led to the failure of a dam Tuesday night.
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