Flood Categories To Be Raised on the Roanoke (Staunton) River at Randolph, VA

Effective on or about Thursday, August 16, 2018 flood categories
for the National Weather Service (NWS) forecast point on the
Roanoke (Staunton) River will be raised. This change was made to
bring the flood stages in line with impacts that are commensurate
with NWS flood category definitions.

The NWS identifier for this gauge is RNDV2 and the gauge is operated
and maintained by the United States Geological Survey. Observed
and forecast stages for this location are available on the
Advanced Hydrologic Prediction System website:

The Roanoke (Staunton) River runs along the border of Charlotte
and Halifax counties in mainly rural areas of the Virginia
piedmont. Based on input from local Emergency Management in
Halifax and Charlotte counties and repeated field visits during
and after flood events it has been determined that the observed
flood impacts did not meet the criteria established by the NWS for
these categories. As recently as May 20, 2018 the river crested
at 26.44 feet, well into the current Moderate flood category
which should mean structures are affected and no such impacts were
observed. The definitions for flood categories are available in the
NWS Directive: 

The following table summarizes the categories and changes: