The National Weather Service had 20 active flood alerts posted Tuesday, down from 40 a day earlier, as the multi-day flooding threat that spanned the Midwest, Ohio Valley and Northeast contracted to two main fronts: flash flooding across Virginia and river flooding in Iowa.
The largest cluster of warnings covers Virginia, where the Weather Service says a tropical air mass is producing intense rainfall rates, particularly where storm cells move slowly. Flash Flood Warnings and watches stretch across dozens of counties and cities, including Albemarle, Augusta, Culpeper, Frederick, Greene, Madison, Nelson, Orange, Page, Rappahannock, Rockingham and Shenandoah in the west, and Richmond, Norfolk, Virginia Beach, Chesapeake, Portsmouth, Suffolk, Newport News and Hampton along the coast. The warnings extend into part of North Carolina’s northeastern counties, including Gates, Pasquotank, Camden, Bertie, Chowan and Perquimans.
In Iowa, the Weather Service’s Des Moines office is tracking the South Skunk River at Colfax, which stood at 19.0 feet and is producing minor flooding affecting Jasper, Marion and Polk counties; the warning remains in effect until late Tuesday afternoon. Illinois has its own flood warning covering Peoria, Tazewell and Woodford counties along the Illinois River system.
Connecticut’s Fairfield County remains under a Flood Warning until 9:30 a.m. EDT Tuesday, with the Weather Service reporting that flooding from previous heavy rainfall was still ongoing as of a 7:13 a.m. update, even as the broader Northeast alert count recedes from Monday’s peak.
Beyond Virginia, Iowa, Illinois and Connecticut, the Weather Service lists active alerts tied to offices covering the District of Columbia, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Missouri, Montana, New York and Wisconsin, though the bulk of today’s warnings are concentrated in the Virginia flash-flood zone. Rhode Island and Massachusetts coastal counties, including Newport, Bristol, Providence, Kent and Block Island, along with Plymouth and Barnstable in Massachusetts, remain under advisories tied to the same weather system that soaked the region a day earlier.
The Weather Service is reiterating its standard flood safety guidance: turn around, don’t drown when encountering flooded roads, since most flood deaths occur in vehicles. For river-specific forecasts, the agency points to its regional water pages, including the Des Moines office’s stream observation site for the Iowa warnings.
With rain-soaked ground across the Mid-Atlantic and slow-moving storm cells still possible over Virginia through the day, forecasters caution that additional flash flooding could develop before the front responsible for the past two days of alerts finally clears the East Coast.