Repeated Rounds of Rain and Storms Wreak Havoc Across West Virginia | Emily’s Weather Corner

Emily Grady

Thursday, August 20, 2026

Within the past couple months, the mountain state has seen it all—massive shelf clouds, magnificent light shows, tornado warnings, severe thunderstorm warnings, but above all else, absolute bucketloads of rain in each round.  

Several places had flooded last month from the storms that ran through on July 21, and are still picking up. Furthermore, the most recent round hit at the absolute worst time— Marshall University move in day. As students nervously scooted their belongings into dorm rooms, an ominous shelf followed by torrential rain and frequent lightning terrorized the city of Huntington.  

So, why are these repeated rounds of rain so rough for the state?  Simply put, the ground has seen enough rain, and is oversaturated, meaning it has hit its absolute limit on holding water and any more runs off into streams, creeks, lakes, etc. This includes the low areas of the campus sidewalks of Marshall. This sudden runoff is made worse if the rain is torrential, pouring down so fast and violently that it has no time to soak into the ground, even if it could. This leads to life-threatening flash flooding, exactly like the state has seen over these multiple rounds of storms. This flooding and rainfall has been so bad that, on August 18, West Virginia Governor Patrick Morrisey issued a State of Emergency for all 55 counties, citing the severe weather. 

But is it over? Not quite. Recently, only small showers have moved in and out of the area, with mostly sun in between. However, the State of Emergency is unfortunately still in effect, and more rain and thunderstorms may return this Saturday, August 22. As of current, NOAA’s Storm Prediction Center has the area under a Marginal Risk of severe storms. This is a 2 out of 5 risk on the SPC’s scale, but seeing as it is a bit far out, this is subject to change. Please always follow your desired source of information, as unfortunately, it doesn’t look like the flooding risk is quite over yet.