Helene and NC, could that happen in the DMV?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Could the flooding and devastation from hurricane Helene happen here in the DMV? What are the chances that a category 4 hurricane hits us and causes flash flooding and severe destruction such as what happened in North Carolina?

That was a 1 in several hundred year storms for that area, so sure it could happen, with a long enough time line.

[Anonymous]

Yes

[Anonymous]

It can happen in SOME areas around here. Do any of you remember the Ellicot City floods? Little town south west of Baltimore, by Columbia, with old buildings built along steep hills and a river running through it. Very quaint, until the river rises. The river flash floods and it has destroyed down town and killed people at least twice in the past twenty years I’ve lived here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Could the flooding and devastation from hurricane Helene happen here in the DMV? What are the chances that a category 4 hurricane hits us and causes flash flooding and severe destruction such as what happened in North Carolina?

If a hurricane is coming, I wouldn’t park my car in the Washington Harbour parking garage.

The flood water here wouldn’t have the velocity of Ashville, but there could certainly be severe flooding.

Look at the flood maps, look where the old creeks/streams used to run. The necessary information to plan/prepare is out there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It can happen in SOME areas around here. Do any of you remember the Ellicot City floods? Little town south west of Baltimore, by Columbia, with old buildings built along steep hills and a river running through it. Very quaint, until the river rises. The river flash floods and it has destroyed down town and killed people at least twice in the past twenty years I’ve lived here.

The Belleview community in Alexandria was under several feet of water during one of the hurricanes.

[Anonymous]

You will get severe flooding in a numerous parts of the DMV area but it's not the catastrophic type of flooding that wipes out infrastructure like W NC for the simple reason that we don't have mountains surrounding us There is flooding caused because overflow rivers/dams rise and water comes into your home. It will take away cars, a lot of stuff and ruin all your things. And then there is living by mountains when, during a hurricane/really bad storms, you get water coming down elevation with a force that is destructive. That water is not just water rising, it's water flowing with pressure that can knock down things. The mountains also lends itself to bringing down more moisture in a storm. So 1+1+ living by rivers/dams/lake that will over flow = destruction of W NC mountain towns. DMV would have a lot of problems with rains that severe for sure but we would still have a town called Fairfax

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Category 5. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Isabel

Cat 2 when it hit land

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Only Cat 2, we did have Isabel hit 20 years ago.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/capital-weather-gang/wp/2013/09/18/remembering-hurricane-isabel-10-years-later-photos/

Are you saying it is unlikely that we’d get a category 4 hurricane here? With climate change, it seems big storms are becoming more common.

No. Clearly I did not say that. I just said that we’ve had a hurricane here before.

[Anonymous]

Look at Ellicott City and the devastating floods experienced downtown there.

It's not likely that many places in the direct DMV have the right kind of geography for that level of intense flash flooding. Possible in pockets - it has happened - but not widespread.

I'm also thinking about the flash floods due to poor drainage/sewage overflow that impacted Rhode Island Avenue and killed the dogs that were boarded at the place located right there - City Dogs? There are low lying areas that are vulnerable, and should a storm dump that insane amount of water in a short time there could be escalating amounts of damage. I'd look at the areas that already flood - Georgetown, Alexandria, lower lands near the river and Rock Creek, the Anacostia.

But in general the *widespread* devastation and destruction aren't quite as likely here (and they're unlikely anywhere, to be fair). Mountains and valleys and rivers and streams can be very bad news in extreme precipitation events.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Only Cat 2, we did have Isabel hit 20 years ago.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/capital-weather-gang/wp/2013/09/18/remembering-hurricane-isabel-10-years-later-photos/

That was the worst we’ve had that I was living here for. I didn’t have flooding, but hearing the trees crashing down from the wind in the middle of the night was terrifying. I live toward the top of a hill with no creeks or rivers nearby so flooding is less of a concern for me, but as others have said the topography of our are is very different than mountainous NC. But it could be terrible for people living near the Potomac, Anacostia or the Bay.

Isabel was especially hard since it was the third horrible September in a row, preceded by 9/11 and the DC sniper the next year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Only Cat 2, we did have Isabel hit 20 years ago.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/capital-weather-gang/wp/2013/09/18/remembering-hurricane-isabel-10-years-later-photos/

That was the worst we’ve had that I was living here for. I didn’t have flooding, but hearing the trees crashing down from the wind in the middle of the night was terrifying. I live toward the top of a hill with no creeks or rivers nearby so flooding is less of a concern for me, but as others have said the topography of our are is very different than mountainous NC. But it could be terrible for people living near the Potomac, Anacostia or the Bay.

Isabel was especially hard since it was the third horrible September in a row, preceded by 9/11 and the DC sniper the next year.

I'm older so I go back to Hurricane Agnes in 1972. Bad times.
https://www.washingtonian.com/2012/06/19/deluge/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ashville is 2,134 feet above sea level.

Fairfax county is 300 feet above sea level.

So yes, it could happen here.

It wasn’t the sea that flooded Ashville. It’s a bowel 2000 ft above the sea. The bowl got full.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It can happen in SOME areas around here. Do any of you remember the Ellicot City floods? Little town south west of Baltimore, by Columbia, with old buildings built along steep hills and a river running through it. Very quaint, until the river rises. The river flash floods and it has destroyed down town and killed people at least twice in the past twenty years I’ve lived here.

Yes, I remember. They’ve paved over too many areas and then expect the river not to ever flood.

[Anonymous]

No evacuations for Isabel in 2003. My friend's father was rescued by the national guard (he lived off the Potomac in Lorton area), so the threat if you're on the Potomac/Anacostia, etc could be real.

I do know of major devastation off the James, but that is south of here (particularly in Claremont that practically got wiped out).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Only Cat 2, we did have Isabel hit 20 years ago.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/capital-weather-gang/wp/2013/09/18/remembering-hurricane-isabel-10-years-later-photos/

That was the worst we’ve had that I was living here for. I didn’t have flooding, but hearing the trees crashing down from the wind in the middle of the night was terrifying. I live toward the top of a hill with no creeks or rivers nearby so flooding is less of a concern for me, but as others have said the topography of our are is very different than mountainous NC. But it could be terrible for people living near the Potomac, Anacostia or the Bay.

Isabel was especially hard since it was the third horrible September in a row, preceded by 9/11 and the DC sniper the next year.

We actually moved on the day Isabel hit and I remember being worried the moving van was going to tip on the beltway with the winds. I ended up just having the movers leave tons of stuff in our garage so they could go home earlier.

There was a more recent storm that hit as a hurricane further south then came up and just sat on top of us for days and days and wouldn’t move, with the rain just pouring down in sheets. We had sod much heavy rain that the storm drains weee overflowing and there was no place for the water to go so it flooded a lot of basements. The ground was so waterlogged a lot of trees fell. Those slow heavy storms can be pretty bad.