Two years later: Staunton’s historic flood

STAUNTON, Va. (WHSV) - Staunton was struck by a severe storm that brought inches of rain and flash flooding on August 8, 2020.

Two years later, residents recall that storm that coated the city in mud, carried cars blocks away and destroyed homes and businesses. Some businesses have closed their doors, but others are growing. The city continues to explore ways to mitigate the impact of flooding.

“We had two freak storms back-to-back, basically. Lots and lots of rain. I think it was seven inches in a very short amount of time,” said John Glover, flood plain administrator for Staunton.

Three to seven inches of rain in over two hours brought devastating consequences for the Queen City. Still, even in a historic flood and in the middle of a pandemic, neighbors stepped up to help neighbors.

“Working together again, I think that in a lot of ways gave so many of us hope that, yeah, we are still a community, we are still small town and we are still there for each other,” said Staunton Downtown Development Association’s Greg Beam.

Staunton still feels the impact from that flood.

“We did lose a couple of our businesses shuttered after the floods. They chose not to reopen. The majority of our businesses have reopened and have grown,” said Beam.

Flood mitigation remains a priority and a big talking point for city leaders. Shortly after the flood, a study into drainage began. The city learned there was very little they could do to prevent floods.

“We pretty much determined that there was nothing reasonable we could do from a standpoint of pipes, dams, anything like that that could alleviate that magnitude of flooding,” said Glover.

The city has installed flood censors and flood shields, and they continue to make improvements to water flow.

“We hopefully can get some warning time to alert citizens and property owners to take the appropriate measures. We also will be able to collect data from the censors going forward to help us understand what happens when we have those types of storms,” Glover said.

Even with all these mitigation measures, Glover said it’s important to stay on top of severe weather in flood-prone areas.

“We’re in an area that’s subject to flash floods and even if we get all of these measures in place, we still have to pay attention to the weather,” said Glover.

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