West Virginia flood of 1985

My first introduction to the South Branch of the Potomac was in 1988, and the flood damage was still very apparent 2 1/2 years after the flood. - Jim

Remembering the Flood of 1985

On November 4th, 1985, it was raining in West Virginia. The remnants of Hurricane Juan had already arrived after making landfall in Louisiana on October 28th. However, the rain was coming down with high rates over several hours, which would ultimately lead to one of the worst flooding events in West Virginia history, causing a half billion dollars in damage, and destroying nearly 5,000 homes.
This YouTube video by the WV Public Broadcasting Association shows video of some of the flooding:



The setup for this historic flood is a bit complicated meteorologically. Hurricane Juan made landfall in Louisiana on October 28th, 1985 and generally moved north into Canada over the following days.

On November 3rd, a low pressure area developed over Florida and moved northeast along a cold front. This northeast movement brought in a large area of moisture that had been influenced by the remnants of Hurricane Juan’s track. That area of low pressure moving into the region became cutoff from the main jet stream as it moved in late November 3rd. Due to a lack of upper level winds, the remnants remained over the  area for about 2.5 days, causing extreme rainfall totals to be recorded before moving out on November 6th.