Mother Nature Won't Let up in Virginia

Tropical Storm Lee made landfall several days ago hundreds miles from Hampton Roads, and yet it was still able to substantially impact Virginia.  New Kent County closed down schools Thursday due to what officials called a large number of flooded roads.  Schools in Charles City County were also closed, while Surry County opened its schools two hours late.

At right is a screen grab from VA511.org, VDOT's online roads information page, as of 4pm Thursday.  Each of those red dots represents a road closed due to flooding.  Again, this is due to the remnants of a tropical storm.  The same storm system dropped even heavier rain on eastern Pennsylvania and southeastern New York.  And it spawned a tornado that destroyed a gas station in Cana, Virginia this week.

Another storm system, Hurricane Katia, is producing dangerous rip currents along the coast, despite being almost 400 miles offshore.  Red flag warnings were posted along the Virginia Beach Oceanfront last weekend but lifeguards still recorded thirty rescues.

Perhaps the meteorologists on TV do over-hype severe weather events, but they may also have a point.  The past couple of weeks should illustrate that it pays to keep tabs on tropical weather systems, even those that have been downgraded to tropical depressions.  Days after they come ashore, their remnants can spin off tornadoes and drop tremendous amounts of rain.

Meanwhile, central Virginia is still reporting damage from the surprise earthquake of two weeks ago.  The facade of a building in downtown Culpeper crumbled Wednesday, apparently following another aftershock.

Links:
www.VA511.org -- VDOT's traffic info page.
Weather Underground's tropical weather page, with long range computer forecasts
Report on this week's Virginia tornado
Report on the earthquake damage in Culpeper