Record rainfall on Thursday caps a wet week in region

Rainfall records were busted Thursday in areas already saturated from the week’s earlier showers. That wasn’t the end of it: The showers continued into this morning and some roads remained flooded. 

Up and down the East Coast, the precipitation was the story Thursday. While Norfolk International Airport had a record 6 inches by 5:30 p.m., some 200 miles south in Jacksonville, N.C., 12 inches fell in a six-hour period of the morning.

The rain didn’t fall evenly in Hampton Roads, either. In some areas of Virginia Beach, for instance, little more than an inch of rain fell before midnight. By this morning, some areas of Portsmouth and Elizabeth City, N.C., had seen nearly 9 inches while the rest of South Hampton Roads had seen more than 6 or 7 inches.

The record set at Norfolk International Airport for rainfall on Sept. 30 was set at 3.88 inches in 1943, according to the National Weather Service.  This morning, the weather service reported 7.85 inches as the new record for Sept. 30.

Tornado and flood warnings greeted Thursday morning risers in Hampton Roads as the remnants of a tropical storm and a low-pressure system interacted. No tornadoes were reported.

This morning, rain is expected before 8 a.m. and a flash-flood watch will be in effect until then. All other warnings expired before midnight. Skies should clear by tonight, with sunshine this weekend and temperatures in the low 70s.

More than 37,000 Dominion Virginia Power customers lost electricity Thursday and spokeswoman Bonita Harris said she expected more outages with the continued rain and wind overnight. Peak outages Thursday came about 1 p.m. when 14,000 were in the dark. By this morning, most had their power restored.

The weather was a headache for commuters trying to navigate flooded streets. Heavy morning rains filled Norfolk intersections and low-lying portions of roads that often flood during storms, but the deluge also overran some main roads and side streets. Several interstate ramps in Norfolk and Portsmouth had to be closed because city streets were nearly impassible. Some motorists still barreled through standing water, and a few were stalled.

In Chesapeake, felled trees blocked a portion of U.S. 58 and later Centerville Turnpike.

Norfolk firefighters did door-to-door check on residents of the Spartan Village neighborhood. The streets were not flooded in the neighborhood, but because past flooding in the area has prompted evacuations, the city wanted residents to know that firefighters were keeping watch on storm conditions, Battalion Chief Harry Worley said.

In Virginia Beach, some streets had minor flooding and some power lines were down, but no other major incidents had been reported, said Battalion Chief Tim Riley, a fire department spokesman.

There was minor flooding in parts of Blackwater, Sandbridge and Muddy Creek roads from south winds.

“We’re seeing some rainfall, but it’s nothing compared to what Norfolk is seeing,” Riley said Thursday. “We consider ourselves lucky.”

Several school systems in Hampton Roads and North Carolina opened late or closed early and some buses were delayed.

“We had to reroute around some streets, but we were able to get to where the kids were and picked them up,” Portsmouth Superintendent David Stuckwisch said.

Some buses in Camden and Pasquotank counties in North Carolina returned to schools because of impassable roads. Parents had to pick up their children.

In Norfolk, some parents thought schools should have been closed.

When Susan Pederson saw flooding Thursday morning, she refused to drive her son to Norview High School.

“I think it was irresponsible … to put the buses on the road,” she said. “Most of his friends walk to school, and crossing the flooded streets is not safe.”

Superintendent Richard Bentley issued a statement that safety was the system’s top priority.

Parents at Tidewater Park Elementary were encouraged to keep their children home because of flooding. Norfolk Naval Station closed roads around Camp Allen Elementary School, and children were sent to Granby Elementary.

Police reported two accidents in the morning involving buses in Norfolk.

A car collided with a school bus headed to Larrymore Elementary and one student suffered a minor injury. A little earlier, a bus for the handicapped that carried one passenger overturned in a ditch on Denver Avenue. A school spokeswoman confirmed that a school bus hit a ditch but provided no further information.

In Creswell, N.C., about 45 miles south of Elizabeth City and west of Manteo, a SUV skidded off a wet roadway, tumbled into a water-filled ditch and killed four of the five family members inside.

The four killed were identified as the driver, Daniel Alvarez, 25; his wife, Natalie Owens, 26; Zacharia Alvarez, 3; and Ariela Alvarez, 1. Zacharia's twin, Ezekiel, was taken to a hospital in Greenville, N.C.

The family of five from Atlanta was traveling westbound on U.S. 64 east of Creswell around 12:20 p.m. Thursday.

Pilot writers Cindy Clayton, Jeff Hampton, Jennifer Jiggetts and Cheryl Ross and The Associated Press contributed to this report.