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Photos: Sunday Caps a Rainy Week in the High Country With 2 to 5 Inches of Rain Falling

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Like the rest of the High Country, the land along Poplar Grove Road was flooded on Sunday. This image was taken at about 7 p.m. Sunday. Photos by Ken Ketchie

By Jesse Wood

Sunday was definitely a washout, capping a week dominated by rain.

RaysWeather.com noted that 4.8 inches of rain fell at the weather station at Grandfather Vineyard and Winery in Foscoe and that the highest totals were along the Blue Ridge from Avery to Alleghany counties.

sgwn7_hgWhile Watauga County Schools operated on its regular schedule Monday, buses didn’t run on Guy Ford Road, Roby Greene Road, Watauga River Road and Dewitt Barnett Road.

Last night, the National Weather Service’s regional office in Blacksburg, Va., noted that it received reports of 3 to 4 inches of rain falling across southwest Virginia and northwest North Carolina. Within that it report, the National Weather Service said that the Watauga River in Sugar Grove exceeded flood stage.

The Watauga River exceeded the 6-foot flood stage at nearly 10 a.m. on Sunday night and the river crested at more than 11 feet at about 3 a.m. This is the highest the river had been since the 2013 floods.

According to archives at RaysWeather.com, these are Sunday”s rain totals from around the High Country.

  • Banner Elk: 2.55 inches
  • Beech Mountain: 2.21 inches
  • Blowing Rock: 3.15 inches
  • Boone: .45 inches
  • Deep Gap: 3.67 inches
  • Foscoe: 4.34 inches
  • Linville: 1.06 inches
  • Newland: 2.49 inches
  • Valle Crucis: 1.33 inches
  • Zionville: 1.9 inches

Looking ahead, more sunshine is in RaysWeather.com”s forecast this week. While scattered showers and thunderstorms are forecasted for Monday and Wednesday, the gloomy overcast skies shouldn’t dominate like last week.

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