Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, May 22, 1990 TAG: 9005220438
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Short
Police dispatchers reported that a car had been seen floating at the intersection of Highland Avenue and 5th Street in Southwest Roanoke. Several vehicles had stalled along Salem Avenue downtown where water was a foot high in some places.
The flash flooding caused several manhole covers to come off their street openings. Thunder and lighting caused burglar alarms to go off in many locations around the city, dispatchers said.
Donato Cacciapaglia of the National Weather Service said the heavy rain was caused by the same storm system that caused recent flooding in Texas and Mississippi. But he said Roanoke will not see those severe rainfall levels.
"It should be a short-lived system, but it should have plenty of punch as far as rainfall amounts are concerned," he said.
Between 11 p.m. Monday and 12:45 this morning, the National Weather Service recorded 1.6 inches of rain at Roanoke Regional Airport.
A front associated with a low-pressure system moving over Kentucky stalled when it came into Southwest Virginia, contributing to the heavy rain, Cacciapaglia said.
He said Roanoke, Roanoke County and Botetourt County seemed to be hardest hit.
Dispatchers in Roanoke and Botetourt counties and for the State Police in Salem reported no serious problems.
by CNB