Weekend storms dumped several inches of rain across parts of Rockbridge County, with one especially strong storm on Friday evening triggering sudden flash flooding in an area to the northwest of Kerrs Creek.
While most of the region saw only minor impacts from the multiple days of rain, one of the hardest-hit areas was Sycamore Valley Road, where a local woman became trapped in her car by rising floodwaters and had to be rescued on foot by the county’s swift water response team.
Rockbridge County Fire Chief Nathan Ramsey said emergency crews were called to Sycamore Valley Road around 8:18 p.m. Friday, after a woman reported being stranded in her vehicle due to high water in the road.
“I’ve been told something like four and a half inches of rain fell in about 30 minutes,” Ramsey said. “I haven’t seen gauges to back that up, but I know they got a lot of rain.” The call came from 1569 Sycamore Valley Road, in the area of Mohler’s Loop. Responders from Kerr’s Creek Fire Department, Rockbridge County Fire-Rescue, and the multi-agency Swift Water Rescue Team — which includes members from the Glasgow, Buena Vista, and Rockbridge Baths fire departments — made their way to the scene as quickly as possible.
Kristin Dorsey, who made the 911 call, had been driving home along U.S. 60 in the heavy rain, towing a small trailer with a newly purchased toolbox. When she turned onto Sycamore Valley Drive, a gravel road at that point, she encountered a downed tree near a neighbor’s house. After sitting in her car for a few minutes, she stepped out, covered herself with a blanket, and cleared the tree from the road herself.
“I thought to myself, there sure is a lot of water running down the middle of the road,” she said. But she continued on, heading uphill until she saw something she didn’t expect: two large boulders being pushed across the road by flowing water.
“The water was pouring off the mountain from the creek on the left side of the road to the creek on the right side,” she said. “There was so much water trying to get into the pipe, but it couldn’t. It flowed over the top like a waterfall into the road.”
As she watched logs and debris pile up around her vehicle, Dorsey realized the water was still rising. She tried to check radar and call her boyfriend, but cell service was weak. He was also stranded — the stream across their driveway had turned into what she described as a “raging river.”
At 8:17 p.m., she called 911. “I wasn’t particularly afraid,” she said. “Just felt stranded.” Her phone battery was down to 10%.
Dorsey stayed on the line with emergency dispatchers until her phone was nearly dead. She waited nearly two hours before the water began to recede, at which point she climbed out the passenger side door and cleared debris from around her car. She moved it into her driveway but stopped at the edge of the newly swollen stream.
Determined to return to town, she unhitched her trailer and began walking. About 20 minutes later, Rockbridge’s swift water rescue team arrived on foot.
“There were eight men, all dressed for business,” she said. They checked the depth and speed of the water near her driveway and determined it was too dangerous to cross. They also assessed her foot, which she had injured when dropping the trailer tongue on it.
“They said I could drive partway down Sycamore Valley but would have to leave the car before the worst of the damage,” she said. “I was still not prepared for what I saw.”
The road had become a river, strewn with rocks and debris. As some of the team scouted ahead for a safe route, others formed a protective circle around her. “They would take a step in unison, and then I would take a step,” she said.
The worst stretch — about the length of a football field — was all sharp rocks and standing water. The team walked with her the full mile to the fork at Dug Row Road, even carrying her bag. From there, a VDOT worker gave her a ride to the I-64 overpass, where EMS personnel evaluated her injury.
Though swollen, her foot was not broken. “Mentally, I was in a little shock over what I had witnessed,” Dorsey said.
Chief Ramsey said the Sycamore Valley rescue was the county’s most significant weather-related emergency Friday night. “It took about five hours total,” he said, with crews clearing the scene just after midnight.
On Saturday night, the county received a second water rescue call near Robey Bridge on East Midland Trail, where a flipped kayak was spotted in the Maury River. However, no one was found, and no injuries were reported.
Aside from those two incidents, most of the county experienced minimal damage.
THIS IS THE VIEW of rising floodwaters along Sycamore Valley Road Friday evening, as seen from the windshield of Kristin Dorsey’s vehicle. Dorsey became stranded and had to be rescued by a swift water rescue team.
SYCAMORE VALLEY ROAD was damaged by flash flooding Friday evening caused by several inches of rain in a very short amount of time. (Christina Johnson photo)
