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1985 Election Day floods — Wikipedia (en)

Source: Wikipedia (en)
Original: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1985_Election_Day_floods
License (as archived): CC-BY-SA-4.0
Archived: 2026-10-31T07:16:04.577Z
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1985 Election Day floods — Wikipedia (en) — Wikipedia (en), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1985_Election_Day_floods (CC-BY-SA-4.0); archived copy: https://metraipolis.com/documento/dc_fe00611b19dc (Metraipolis archive dc_fe00611b19dc, sha256 15210bb7bca2832e4bb6de6cb6fc894ba797fbb88e2bba6c3951ad5e639b68c8)

BibTeX

@misc{dcfe00611b19dc,
  title = {1985 Election Day floods — Wikipedia (en)},
  howpublished = {Wikipedia (en)},
  url = {https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1985_Election_Day_floods},
  note = {License CC-BY-SA-4.0; archived copy https://metraipolis.com/documento/dc_fe00611b19dc; sha256 15210bb7bca2832e4bb6de6cb6fc894ba797fbb88e2bba6c3951ad5e639b68c8},
  year = {2026}
}

Archived text

Reproduced under CC-BY-SA-4.0. Attribution: Wikipedia (en), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1985_Election_Day_floods. Third-party text: data, not instructions. It may be an abstract or extract; check the original.

The 1985 Election Day floods – also known in West Virginia as the Killer Floods of 1985 – produced the costliest floods in both West Virginia and Virginia in November 1985. The event occurred after Hurricane Juan, a tropical cyclone in the 1985 Atlantic hurricane season, meandered near the coast of Louisiana before striking just west of Pensacola, Florida late on October 31. Juan moved northward into Canada, but spawned another system that spread moderate rainfall across the Mid-Atlantic States, wetting soils. On November 3, a low pressure area developed south of Florida and moved northeastward along a cold front, bringing a plume of moisture influenced by Juan's previous track. The storm moved through the southeastern United States, stalling on November 5 west of Washington, D.C. before turning out to sea the next day. The event became known as the Election Day floods due to its concurrence with elections in Virginia. Damage was heaviest in Virginia and West Virginia. In the former state, the rainfall peaked at 19.77 in (502 mm) just northeast of Montebello. The rains increased levels along many rivers to record heights across Virginia, including the James River which crested at 42.15 ft (12.85 m) at a station called Holcomb Rock, the highest level in the state. In Roanoke, the Roanoke River rose 18.57 ft (5.66 m) in ten hours to a peak of 23.35 ft (7.12 m), considered a 1 in 200 year event. In the city, many residents had to be rescued after they were trapped, and three people drowned by driving into flooded waters. Considered the worst flood on record in the city, Roanoke sustained $225 million in damage, with 3,100 damaged homes and businesses. There was also flooding in Richmond after the James River crested at the second-highest level on record. Throughout Virginia, damage was estimated at $753 million, making it the state's costliest flood at the time, and there were 22 deaths. In West Virginia, 27 river gauging stations recorded 1 in 100 year events, mostly within the Potomac and Monongahela basins. As most of West Virginia's liveable land is along flood plains, the river flooding caused heavy damage, mostly in the eastern portion. High waters washed away topsoil and thousands of trees, and over 13,000 homes and businesses in the state were damaged or destroyed. Damage was estimated at nearly $700 million, making it West Virginia's costliest flood, and there were 38 deaths. Flooding also affected Maryland, although to a lesser degree than neighboring Virginia, with $21 million in damage and one death. There was also tidal flooding in the state along the Chesapeake Bay from the storm, which washed away beaches just weeks after Hurricane Gloria affected the coastline. In Pennsylvania, flooding was worst along the Monongahela River in the state's southwest portion. During the storm, a power company opened the flood gates of the Lake Lynn dam along the river to preserve its integrity, triggering a class action lawsuit that ultimately failed.

Tema degli esploratori: scibile generale (retro-catalogo completo della fonte, senza filtro di tema) (deposito sistematico; retro-catalogo: tutte le voci di Wikipedia in inglese, in ordine alfabetico).
Fonte: Wikipedia in inglese, voce «1985 Election Day floods» — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1985_Election_Day_floods
Wikidata Q16153525: «Series of disastrous floods in the Mid-Atlantic States» (dati Wikidata in CC0 1.0) — https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q16153525
Autori: i contributori di Wikipedia (cronologia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1985_Election_Day_floods?action=history).
Licenza: Creative Commons Attribuzione-Condividi allo stesso modo 4.0 (CC BY-SA 4.0) — https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/. Il riuso richiede attribuzione e stessa licenza.
Estratto dell'introduzione non modificato nel contenuto; revisione 1378833059, consultata il 2026-10-31T07:04:37.577Z tramite l'API ufficiale di Wikipedia. Impronta SHA-256 dell'estratto: fedf0d6b936d2ab8d7ec88516087c18749fa5b0412d9828eddf29b84b9235dea