PROJECT ALERT NOTICE (VA WV) Recent flood activities in WV and VA

Date: Tue, 20 Feb 2018 12:17:27 EST

Summary: Field crews from the VA-WV WSC were out late last week collecting high flow data at a number of sites in the network.

The entire state of West Virginia and western Virginia received 2-4 inches of rain over the latter half of last week (2/21-2/25). As a result, many streamgages were reporting elevated flows. Crews from Richmond and Marion, VA, and Charleston, WV, were deployed to collect high flow data.

The James River Basin in Virginia was measured at nine locations and high-water marks were flagged for an indirect at Harris Creek near Monroe, VA, where the stage exceeded the upper limits of the stage-discharge rating. One crest-stage gage had been equipped with multiple pressure sensors for the purposes of capturing data for an contracted-opening indirect. Those sensors were downloaded and the reach was also flagged for a slope-area.

In West Virginia, the Ohio River above Sardis, OH, was measured at 262,000 cfs and confirmed with a check measurement. High-water marks were also flagged for an indirect at a new station on Little Huff Creek.

Flows are now receding and many streams are nearly back to baseflow conditions. Aside from surveying the high-water marks that were flagged, no additional work on this event is anticipated.