Heavy Rain in West Virginia, July 21 to 22, 2013

Name: Heavy Rain in West Virginia, July 21 to 22, 2013
Start: 2013-07-21T14:45
End: 2013-07-22T17:45
Location: West Virginia

July 21 to 22, 2013 · NWS RLX · 2 events in 2 counties and zones

A strong summer disturbance in the winds aloft moved up the Ohio Valley during the morning. It combined with the muggy air to produce local downpours during the late afternoon.

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it. Tap one for its entry below.

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The toll

Deaths: 1
Injuries: 0
Property damage: $20,000
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 2

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 RLX wrote it up.

A strong summer disturbance in the winds aloft moved up the Ohio Valley during the morning. It combined with the muggy air to produce local downpours during the late afternoon.

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 Charleston, WV wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Jul 21, 1:15 PM EST, 1 hour 30 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jul 21, 1:15 PM EST, 1 hour 30 minutes before

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Hazardous weather outlook, Jul 21, 1:25 PM EST, 1 hour 20 minutes before

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In the hours before

Local storm report, Jul 21, 9:56 AM EST, 4 hours 49 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CHARLESTON WV
1056 AM EDT SUN JUL 21 2013

..TIME...   ...EVENT...      ...CITY LOCATION...     ...LAT.LON...
..DATE...   ....MAG....      ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
            ..REMARKS..

1055 AM     HEAVY RAIN       5 NNE CEDAR GROVE       38.28N  81.38W
07/21/2013  M1.74 INCH       KANAWHA            WV   IFLOWS RAINGUAGE

            1.74INCHES IN AN HOUR ENDING AT 1045AM

&&

EVENT NUMBER RLX1300817

JM

Local storm report, Jul 21, 11:06 AM EST, 3 hours 39 minutes before

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Local storm report, Jul 21, 11:12 AM EST, 3 hours 33 minutes before

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Local storm report, Jul 21, 12:19 PM EST, 2 hours 26 minutes before

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Local storm report, Jul 21, 1:05 PM EST, 1 hour 40 minutes before

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The radar

The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

2 heavy rain. Local standard time, as filed.

Heavy Rain, Cabell

When: July 21, 2:45 PM EST to 4:45 PM EST
Where: Cabell County, 0.22 mi S of Huntington to 0.46 mi WSW of Guyandotte
Property damage: $20,000
Reported by: Social Media
Coordinates: 38.417, -82.450

Rains of 1 to 2 inches fell in about an hour. The usual street flooding and ponding of water in poor drainage areas in downtown Huntington occurred. The viaducts were flooded. An ambulance bay at a city hospital collected water from poor drainage. About the city, some vehicles stalled in the water.

Heavy Rain, Putnam

When: July 22, 5:45 PM EST
Where: Putnam County, 2.77 mi ESE of Robertsburg
Deaths: 1 direct, 0 indirect
Reported by: Broadcast Media
Coordinates: 38.633, -81.903

A 63 year old man drowned, after falling into Bear Branch, a small tributary to Eighteen Mile Creek east of Buffalo. He was removing debris from the stream around a bridge. The creek was swollen from over an inch of rain during the afternoon.

The people who died

As the offices recorded each death: direct deaths were caused by the weather itself, indirect ones by something it set in motion.

Event	Date	Age	Sex	Where	Kind
Heavy Rain, Putnam	2013-07-22	63	Male	Outside/Open Areas	Direct

What these are

Heavy Rain: Rainfall totals unusual for the place and season that did not produce a flood.

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

The same day elsewhere

Every storm in West Virginia in 2013 Every state in 2013 This day in weather history Warnings in West Virginia, July 2013

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 2026-10-01. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 454778, 454912.