Flash flood watched issued for next few days

Don’t drive through any flooded roads – “turn around, don’t drown”.

The National Weather Service has issued flash flood watches for Washington, northern Virginia, central and southern Maryland and the Eastern Shore, but the timeline has been scaled back to Saturday morning.

Governors up and down the coast warned residents to prepare.

Enough rain may fall to cause incidents of flash flooding.

The National Weather Service issued a flash flood watch for the mountains Tuesday as a rain system continued to blanket the region. Last summer several roads were washed out as the result of flooding.

The coroner’s office says one person died after several vehicles were submerged early Thursday.

It says the weather is being impacted by Hurricane Joaquin which is producing showers and thunderstorms across Jamaica.

The weather service said Burlington, Vermont, had 2.04 inches of rain on Tuesday, a record for daily rainfall for the day.

Already the forecasts of heavy rain have canceled large events like the Taste of Bethesda and Montgomery Parks’ Harvest Festival, both scheduled for Saturday.

Thursday’s flooding and closures were centred in Spartanburg County, including part of Interstate 85 Business just north of Spartanburg.

“It may save your life”.

North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory has declared a state of emergency for the entire state to help prepare for a possible thrashing by Hurricane Joaquin. That trend continues this weekend as we are tracking the likelihood of heavy rain over the weekend PLUS the Hurricane Joaquin.

Officials were closely watching the progress of the hurricane, though its path was far from certain.

Hurricane Joaquin is turning away from New Jersey, but the state won’t escape terrible weather.

“The safety of our patrons is most important to us and we didn’t want to jeopardize that”, said Coble Wilson, president emeritus.

Despite that uncertainty Joaquin is expected to be a powerful storm and needs to be taken seriously.

Between now and if/when Hurricane Joaquin potentially arrives on the scene we can expect a few rainy, windy raw weather. Ditches and small streams are likely to flood at times through the weekend as well.

“When streets are flooded, don’t run through the water”, Pouget said. New precipitation amounts between three quarters and one inch possible.