Name: Flash Flood in Virginia, July 3, 2001
Start: 2001-07-03T18:30
End: 2001-07-03T22:00
Location: Virginia

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it; 1 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. Tap one for its entry below.

Tornadoes
Tropical storms and surge
Floods
Wind
Hail
Winter weather
Heat and drought
Cold
Fire, smoke and dust
Marine and coastal
Other

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The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: None recorded
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 1

Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.

What happened

The episode as NWS RNK wrote it up.

Heavy thunderstorm rains during the evening of the 3rd caused Laural Fork to flood and close Route 644, 1 mile west of Pocohontas.

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before the first event, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

NWS Blacksburg, VA wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Jul 3, 1:13 PM EST, 5 hours 17 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jul 3, 1:13 PM EST, 5 hours 17 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BLACKSBURG, VA
213 PM EDT TUE JUL 3 2001

FORECAST CHALLENGE IS HOW HIGH POPS TO CARRY THROUGH THURSDAY AND
LOCATIONS.

KFCX 88D SHOWS PLENTY OF TSRA FROM NRV SW INTO THE SMOKYS.  VIS SAT
SHOWS LOW CLDS SLOWLY ERODING OUT EAST AFTER WEDGE AND SE FLOW
FORMED THESE OVERNIGHT. FNTL BOUNDARY AT 17Z WAS BOWING NWD INTO
CENTRAL APPS PER LI ANALYSIS...WITH STABLE AIR OUT EAST.

TNT...APPEARS MOST LOCALES WILL HAVE A CHANCE OF PCPN...BUT MAINLY
IN SRN AND WRN CWA. SRN EARLY THIS EVENING AND SE WV LATE AS
REMNANTS OF MCS MOVE IN. ETA SHOWS HIGHEST MN RH PUSHING EAST FROM
WRN NC TO SOUTHSIDE VA/NRN NC PIEDMONT OVERNIGHT. MOIST CONVERGENCE
SHIFTS NORTH INTO THE NRV THIS EVENING THEN DISSIPATES. WILL HAVE
LOWEST POPS IN NE CWA...BUT A POPS NONETHELESS.

INDEPENDENCE DAY...A S/W MOVES SE TO THE OH VLY/PA AREA BY EVENING
AS TROF DEEPENS OVER EAST WITH 5H LOW DROPPING SOUTH OF JAMES BAY.
LEE SFC TROF FORMS AT 18Z WITH DEEPEST MOISTURE WELL EAST AND SOUTH
OF CWA PER ETA...HOWEVER ENOUGH INSTABILITY AND UVM AROUND TO KEEP
CHANCE IN...WITH BEST LIFT REMAINING ACROSS THE MTNS. WILL DROP POPS
BACK TO HIGH CHANCE FAR WEST.

WED NIGHT...EVENING CONVECTION THEN DRY OVERNIGHT WHILE FRONT PUSHES
SLOWLY SOUTH TO A PIT-DAY-SPI LINE. DEEPEST MOISTURE REMAINS WELL
EAST OR WEST OF CWA.

THU...FNTL CONVERGENCE/INSTABILITY WILL LEAD TO MORE SCTD
CONVECTION. LOOKS LIKE BEST CHANCES WILL BE IN THE MTNS OF VA/SE WV.

THU NIGHT...FNT IS SOUTH OF US WITH HIGH PUSHING IN. COOLER AIR WILL
BE DELAYED AGAIN...BUT COOLER NONETHELESS. FRI-SAT LOOK LESS
HUMID...WITH RETURN FLOW BEGINNING TO DEVELOP BY SAT AFTN.

SUN-MON...RING OF FIRE SETS UP WITH DOMINATE 5H HIGH IN THE SRN
PLNS...AND MCS/S PROGGED TO FORM OVER THE MIDWEST AND DRIFT INTO THE
OH VLY AND EVENTUALLY THE APPS. WILL PUT CHANCE BACK IN TO THE WEST
SUNDAY...AND MONDAY...WITH FNTL SYS GIVING US A CHANCE CWA WIDE
TUESDAY AS IT DROPS INTO NC.

PRELIM CCF NUMBERS
FCSTID = 5
ROA   67  85  67  84 /  30  40  30  30
LYH   64  84  66  83 /  30  40  20  30
DAN   68  87  70  86 /  20  40  30  30
BLF   65  78  64  76 /  40  50  30  40
LWB   61  77  61  76 /  50  60  30  50
BCB   64  81  64  78 /  30  50  30  40
TNB   63  79  63  77 /  30  50  30  40

.RNK...
NC...NONE.
VA...NONE.
WV...NONE.

WHP

The radar

The Roanoke radar (KFCX), 115 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 23:31 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

1 flash flood. Local standard time, as filed.

Flash Flood, Tazewell

When: July 3, 6:30 PM EST to 10:00 PM EST
Where: Tazewell County, 1 mi W of Pocahontas
Reported by: LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates: 37.125, -81.561 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

What these are

Flash Flood: Flooding that begins within six hours of the rain that causes it, or of a dam or levee failure or ice jam release, often with deadly speed.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

More

Every storm in Virginia in 2001 Every state in 2001 This day in weather history Warnings in Virginia, July 2001

Sources

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 5258159.