19 motorists rescued from rapidly rising floodwaters across Richmond
After heavy bouts of rain fell over Richmond, Virginia, within a span of only a few hours, the city's fire department responded to more than a dozen calls of vehicles in high water and rescued 19 people on Wednesday.
The Richmond Fire Department noted that most of the crews were dispatched between 4:27 and 5:22 p.m. EDT, and while 17 people were rescued around that timeframe, another two were rescued later that evening.
It's been a busy evening for our WR Team. Between 4:27 & 5:22 p.m., they were dispatched to more than a dozen vehicle in high water calls & rescued 17 people. Then at 7:51 p.m., they responded to another, where they rescued two more people. They have done some incredible work. pic.twitter.com/WiuCfkUe0Y
— Richmond Fire Department (@RFDVA) June 10, 2021
Video from the fire department shows a crew member helping a motorist from the roof of their car into an inflatable boat during one rescue. The floodwaters were nearly up to the hood of the car, completely submerging the front headlights.
"Richmond, Virginia, received a substantial amount of rain throughout the day Wednesday," AccuWeather Meteorologist Maxwell Gawryla said. "Interestingly, the rain was heavily localized with observations across the region ranging from around 1.3 inches to a whopping 3.34 inches at Richmond/Chesterfield County Airport."
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He added that this rainfall wasn't dispersed throughout the day but rather occurred over the course of four hours. More than half of the rainfall recorded at Chesterfield County Airport -- 2.87 inches -- fell between 4 p.m. and 5 p.m., roughly aligning with the timeframe Richmond's fire department received their calls for rescue.
While the heaviest rain across Virginia had moved off the coast as of Wednesday evening, Gawryla said the situation will continue through the next few days.
"Deep moisture over the area through the rest of the week coupled with a few weak upper-level disturbances will allow for continued widespread showers and thunderstorms throughout the state," Gawryla said. "This generally soggy pattern will start to change early next week when high pressure begins to build into the northeast and moisture is pushed out of the area."
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