Flash Flooding and Hail in Virginia, June 23, 1998

A warm front, combined with another potent (for the season) upper-level disturbance, set the stage for strong to severe thunderstorms across the western piedmont and central Shenandoah Valley during the afternoon and evening. Severe weather, mainly in the form of thunderstorm winds, was confined to Albemarle and Nelson Cos. Heaviest damage was noted in the Charlottesville area, where dozens of trees and large limbs fell, several onto cars and a few onto homes. Another severe storm, containing estimated winds gusts between 60 and 80 mph, mangled tree branches and split other trees in two in Maurertown along local route 625. One of the trees fell onto a home, causing minor damage.The storms, which moved rather slowly over saturated ground, induced flash flooding in several counties. Rainfall totals, ranging between 2 and 6 inches in the strongest storms, produced street flooding in Charlottesville and Madison. The town of Elkwood received 6.2 inches of rain which brought area creeks and small streams out of their banks. In Prince William Co, just west of Manassas, several low-lying areas were flooded, and a few streams overspilled their banks. Over an inch of rain in 20 minutes forced creeks out of their banks near Massaponax. The storms knocked out power to at least 12,500 customers in northern and central Virginia.