Hampton Roads under flash flood and severe thunderstorm warning, tornado watch
Tuesday’s storm picked up in the evening, leading to several warnings and watches, closures and over 20,000 customers without power in Hampton Roads.
A flash flood warning was issued at 9:04 p.m. by the National Weather Service at Wakefield. It covers James City County, York County, Hampton, Newport News Poquoson and Williamsburg. It also includes Chesapeake, Norfolk, Portsmouth and Virginia Beach. It will remain in effect until 3:15 a.m. Wednesday.
The severe thunderstorm warning, issued at 8:20 p.m. covers York County, Newport News, Hampton, James City County and Williamsburg, as well as locations in south Hampton Roads including Norfolk, Chesapeake, Portsmouth, Virginia Beach and Suffolk. Some counties in northeast North Carolina are also included.
The warning is in effect until 9:30 p.m.
The weather service advised moving into a an interior room on the lowest floor of a building.
The tornado watch covers counties in northeast North Carolina, central Virginia and southeast Virginia. Hampton, Newport News, Suffolk, Williamsburg, York County, Isle of Wight County and James City County are included under the watch.
The national weather service expanded the tornado watch to include Chesapeake, Norfolk, Poquoson, Portsmouth and Virginia Beach. It also includes Camden, Currituck, Pasquotank and Perquimans counties in North Carolina.
The watch was extended to 11 p.m.
A tornado watch means conditions are favorable for tornadoes, but does not mean a tornado will occur.
The weather service also issued storm and high wind warnings, as well as a flood watch.
The high wind warning is in effect until 1 a.m. Wednesday for the Outer Banks, Norfolk, Portsmouth, Hampton, Poquoson, Chesapeake and Virginia Beach. South to southeast winds 30 to 40 miles per hour and gusts up to 60 miles per hour are expected.
The Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel is operating under Level 2 wind restrictions. That means only cars without cargo, pickup trucks up to 2-axle without cargo, mini vans and SUVs are allowed to cross.
The storm warning is in effect for areas surrounding the Chesapeake Bay and Currituck Sound until 1 a.m. Wednesday.
Flooding due to excessive rainfall is possible until 1 a.m. Wednesday.
As of about 9:20 p.m. just over 22,000 Dominion Energy customers in Hampton Roads are without power due to the storm, according to the Dominion Energy Outage Map.
The Central Chesapeake Public Library will be closed for the remainder of the evening due to a power outage. Hampton Roads Transit suspended ferry service until Wednesday afternoon.
Cianna Morales, 757-957-1304, cianna.morales@virginiamedia.com
