THE WEATHER BEAT · OCT 14

Flash flood warnings covered Charleston, Parkersburg and Clarksburg, West Virginia, on Wednesday evening

Three Charleston NWS warnings in 90 minutes put up to 2.25 inches on the Kanawha and Ohio valleys, with flooding reported in Malden; Texas saw up to 5.

By the Weather Rock October 14, 2026, 8:35 p.m. · 6 min read

The Kanawha River at South Charleston, West Virginia, where the Interstate 64 bridges cross, photographed on 12 April 2016. Photo: Acroterion, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0. This crop carries the same licence.

Key points

On Wednesday evening the National Weather Service in Charleston, West Virginia, issued flash flood warnings covering Charleston, Parkersburg, Marietta and Clarksburg. The 8:28 p.m. EDT warning said flash flooding was already under way in Malden.
Radar estimates in those warnings put 0.5 to 2.25 inches of rain on parts of West Virginia and southeast Ohio between late afternoon and evening.
In the Texas Rolling Plains, Lubbock's warnings said up to 5 inches had fallen around Spur, Dickens, Paducah and Matador. San Angelo's Flood Watch names moisture from Hurricane Simon as the reason for heavier rain Thursday afternoon into Friday morning.

West Virginia, Wednesday evening

Rain is usually not news in the Kanawha Valley in October. On Wednesday evening, though, thunderstorms set off three flash flood warnings from the Charleston office in a little over 90 minutes.

The first warning came at 6:59 p.m. EDT for the hill country around Clarksburg and Salem. Radar showed 1 to 1.5 inches had already fallen there, with up to another inch possible. At 7:51 p.m. EDT a second warning covered the Ohio River towns of Parkersburg, Vienna, Williamstown and St. Marys, and Marietta across the river. Between 1 and 2.25 inches had fallen there. The third, at 8:28 p.m. EDT, covered Charleston itself. It estimated 0.5 to 1.5 inches and said flash flooding was already occurring in Malden, just up the Kanawha River from the capital.

The Charleston warning also listed the roads. They were Interstate 77 between mile markers 96 and 99, the West Virginia Turnpike between mile markers 88 and 95, and Route 119 between mile markers 67 and 79. The Parkersburg warning listed Interstate 77 near the Ohio line and Route 50 between mile markers 25 and 52.

Warning (NWS Charleston WV)	Issued	Until	Rain fallen, per the warning	Towns named
Doddridge, Gilmer, Harrison, Lewis, Ritchie WV	6:59 p.m. EDT	10:00 p.m. EDT	1 to 1.5 in, up to 1 in more possible	Clarksburg, Salem, Jackson Mill, West Milford
Washington OH; Doddridge, Pleasants, Ritchie, Wood WV	7:51 p.m. EDT	9:15 p.m. EDT	1 to 2.25 in, up to 0.25 in more possible	Parkersburg, Marietta, Vienna, Williamstown, St. Marys, Harrisville
Boone, Kanawha, Lincoln WV	8:28 p.m. EDT	11:30 p.m. EDT	0.5 to 1.5 in; flooding occurring in Malden	Charleston, South Charleston, Marmet, Belle, Chesapeake

*Amounts are radar estimates quoted from the NWS warnings themselves, not gauge totals.*

The Texas Rolling Plains

To the southwest, the same unsettled pattern that flooded Oklahoma on Wednesday morning produced slow storms over the open country east of Lubbock. Between 6:58 and 7:20 p.m. CDT, NWS Lubbock extended or reissued flash flood warnings for Crosby, Dickens, Garza, Kent, King, Cottle and Motley counties. Each one said the heaviest rain had ended but flash flooding was still occurring. The Cottle and Motley warning, covering Paducah and Matador, and the Dickens and King warning, covering Guthrie, both said up to 5 inches had fallen. Lubbock's Flood Watch for those counties runs until 1 a.m. CDT Thursday.

Warning (NWS Lubbock TX)	Issued	Until	Rain fallen, per the warning	Towns named
Crosby, Dickens, Garza, Kent	6:58 p.m. CDT	8:45 p.m. CDT	2 to 5 in	White River Lake, Kalgary
Dickens, Garza, Kent	7:17 p.m. CDT	8:45 p.m. CDT	2 to 4 in	Spur, Dickens, Clairemont, Justiceburg
Dickens, King	7:18 p.m. CDT	9:15 p.m. CDT	up to 5 in	Guthrie, Finney, Dumont
Cottle, Motley	7:20 p.m. CDT	9:30 p.m. CDT	up to 5 in	Paducah, Matador, Cee Vee

Thursday, officially

At 1:46 p.m. CDT, NWS San Angelo issued a Flood Watch for 18 counties of west central Texas, including Abilene's Taylor County and San Angelo's Tom Green County. It runs from Thursday afternoon through Friday morning. The watch text reads: "moisture from Hurricane Simon will bring highly efficient rain showers and thunderstorms to the area." It adds that flash flooding is likely and considerable flash flooding is possible. At 1:47 p.m. CDT, NWS Austin/San Antonio issued a watch for Val Verde County for the same window. It calls for 1 to 3 inches, with isolated amounts of 6 inches possible.

This is an evening summary, not emergency information. For live warnings see weather.gov and your local officials. The Charleston office's page is weather.gov/rlx.

The rock's live forecast for the places in this story