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by Tony_Perkins from Washington, DC

Last Post 7 hours Ago


There is a Code Red in effect for today for unhealthy air quality for all groups. People should limit their time outside today.

Today will be mostly sunny, hot and humid. Highs will be in the mid 90s.

Tonight will be mostly clear and muggy. Lows will range from the upper 60s to the lower 70s.

Saturday will be mostly sunny, hot and humid. There will be a slight chance of a shower or thunderstorm in the afternoon and evening. Highs will be in the mid 90s.

Sunday will be partly sunny, hot and humid. There will be a chance of showers and thunderstorms in the afternoon and evening. Highs will be in the low to mid 90s.

Enjoy the weekend.  Drink plenty of water!

Tony

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Enoble
Jul 18, 2008 | 9:01 AM

I was really surprised to hear you doubt Mother Nature's ability to dump 44 inches of rain in 24 hours considering it has virtually happened in our own back yard. More specifically, over the course of the evening of August 19-20, 1969, the remnants of then tropical storm Camille stalled over Nelson County Virginia unleasing an official total of 27 inches of rain in a 24 hour period although some estimates were as high as 37 inches in several areas of the county. Needless to say, the flash floods were devastating killing over 117 people in the tiny community. Here are a couple of their stories from NOAA's web site:
"August 19-20, 1969: Hurricane Camille made landfall on the Louisiana Coast and maintained hurricane strength for 150 miles up the Mississippi Valley. The storm turned east and headed for Virginia. It tapped into the warm moisture-rich air over the southern Gulf Stream and drew it northwest toward its center and toward the Virginia Mountains. Thunderstorms began to grow and it started raining. The storms formed a band with each thunderstorm following the one before it as they rose up the mountain slopes between Charlottesville and Lynchburg. An area 100 miles long and 25 miles wide received more than 10 inches of rain. In Nelson County, the storm total came to 27 inches and unofficial rain total was estimated at 31 inches! Rain from Camille produced the worst flash flood in Virginia's history. It was so devastating that 117 people died, all communications were cut off to the outside world and damages came to over half a billion dollars.

The following stori

Enoble
Jul 18, 2008 | 9:03 AM

The following stories were obtained from the Charlottesville Daily Progress and published in the Southern Climate Review in the Autumn 1989 addition:

Wayne Oliver, of Lovingston, awoke around 3 a.m., heard some unusual noises, decided to get out of bed and have a look around. Eight inches of water were on the bedroom floor. "We'd been having some trouble with the water system and I thought maybe a pipe had burst, so I went to check it out. That's when the house started moving." The wife and two young children huddled on the bed while Wayne fought to open the water-swollen attic door and lift them above the rising water. "The bed was floating and it got higher and higher and you could feel the house moving. The boards were cracking and popping and first the floor came apart in the kitchen and then it came apart in the bedroom and then the bed hit the ceiling with me on it and the whole house came apart! It threw me into the water and carried me away and I couldn't hold them any more. I never saw them again.... I don't know how far I drifted. There were boards hitting me and I was groping for them but nothing would hold me up until I finally came up on a piece of the house. I think it was the livingroom." Mrs. Oliver was washed a mile from her home. Her husband wound up in a tree a half mile away. The children were never found.

A mother and child stayed in their home as it was torn from its foundation and floated over seven miles downstream. They were unharmed.

Dora Morris lived at the head of Davis Creek where its average depth is a few inches. In virtually conti

Enoble
Jul 18, 2008 | 9:04 AM

A mother and child stayed in their home as it was torn from its foundation and floated over seven miles downstream. They were unharmed.

Dora Morris lived at the head of Davis Creek where its average depth is a few inches. In virtually continuous lightning, she estimated it had risen to a height of 50 feet. "The awfullest roar. It was a horrible sound. I suppose it was the landslides and the trees tumbling down the hollow, tearing at everything." She said it lasted four hours.

Enoble
Jul 18, 2008 | 9:04 AM

By 1 a.m., August 20, the amount of rain was enough to undermine the forest floor, and mudslides - soil, rock, boulders, trees, and some inhabited houses poured down the ravines. At some points, these slides were blocked and created temporary dams that impounded acres of water. Finally, the dams would give way sending torrents down the creeks into Tye, Piney, and Rockfish Rivers. For five miles down Davis Creek, logs were piled 30 feet high.

Enoble
Jul 18, 2008 | 9:05 AM

Curt Matthews smelled it coming. The scent of crushed pine pitch, amidst the roar of the mudslides, invisible in the storm, was what saved his life. At 1 a.m. "I had gone in to lay down for a while, and when I came back out on the porch, I smelled the unusual odor of bark and sap and green timber. I'm in the logging business and I know that smell, but I never in my life smelled it so heavy, even in a sawmill. The air was like sticking your head in a sack of bark. Finally, I couldn't stand it any longer and I went to wake up my wife and told her we had to get out. She didn't want to go and it took me 20 minutes to get her and the child ready. But in 20 minutes, the water rose from three to eight feet in my yard.... It must have been all these trees coming apart and washing down the hollow that I smelled. I guess I was one of the lucky ones." His home and land disappeared without a trace, but the family got out in time.

Enoble
Jul 18, 2008 | 9:05 AM

Samuel Johnson of Massies Mill was washed through the eaves of his two-story house at 3 a.m. He rode the water a half mile downstream and lodged in a tree. "The house went away like a paper bag bursting." He spent over six hours in the tree with "not a rag on my body...just the same as I came into the world." The other family members in the house did not survive the night.

Mr. McQuary of Rockfish: "The first thing I heard was this water on my porch. I kept fussing with my wife, but she didn't want to leave her belongings. There was this rumbling...like thunder...and the ground trembling. As my wife stepped off the porch, the house began to go...rocks and water just squished it off...we managed to get away." Within a half hour, "the thundering came back and big rocks and trees came down.... All I saved is what I had on my back."

Mountaineerfan read my blog view my photos
Jul 18, 2008 | 4:23 PM

That was all pretty cool stuff Enoble but why didn't you just include it in it's own seperate post?

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Tony_Perkins

Hello! Please be sure to check me out weekday mornings on "Fox Morning News", between 5 a.m. and 9 a.m. We will provide you with everything you need to know about the latest forecast and weather news, and we'll have a little fun, too! For those who don't know, I am a long time resident of the Washington area. I went to Patterson Elementary School in D.C., and Mount Vernon High School in Alexandria. I graduated with a degree in Communications and Cinema Studies from the American University. Most of my career has been here in the D.C. area, from my time with Donnie Simpson back when we were on WKYS-FM, to my years hosting "DC20 Breakaway" on Channel 20, to my FIRST stint at Fox 5, from 1992 to 1999. From early 1999 until December 2005, I was the morning weathercaster and feature reporter for ABC's "Good Morning America". I returned to Fox 5 in January 2006. In addition to doing weather for "Fox Morning News", I frequently do features and live remotes from in the field. I hope you'll tune in to check out me and the rest of the gang sometime!

Member Since: 7/25/2006