CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The National Weather Service continued to monitor rainfall and water levels on Wednesday. Flood warnings were issued on several small streams and mid sized rivers in the state, but most of the flooding according to emergency officials has been minor.
“The heaviest rain in the last 24 hours seems to have fallen in north central West Virginia, north of the Little Kanawha River basin,” said Meteorologist Ken Batty. “The heavier rain about an inch and a half fell across an axis from Sutton to the Clarksburg area and moved into the Central Mountains and we still have some snow up there.”
The snow pack in the higher elevations has worried forecasters ever since last week when the temperatures increased. So far the rapid snow melt has helped to keep most flooding at a moderate level. Batty said predicting water levels by factoring in the melting snow isn’t easy.
“It’s a very complicated issue of how exactly all the snow melts and the rain,” he said. “If we get close to what the rivers do, we’re pretty happy. You can never get it perfect.”
Batty said they’ve issued flood warnings for the Buckhannon River, Tygart Valley River, and the Greenbrier River at Marlinton.