Hurricane Florence: Fredericksburg Warns Of Rappahannock Flooding

FREDERICKSBURG, VA—City emergency officials issued a warning Thursday about the continued threat of flooding along the Rappahannock River related to Hurricane Florence. Although the storm has taken a southward track, new worries have arisen.

"We can’t relax now," Victor Podbielski, Deputy Emergency Management Coordinator, said in a statement. "We already have saturated soils in the region. Any rain that falls will run off and increase the likelihood of flood stage river levels."

Officials are now watching the storm track to see whether it will take a possible northerly turn into Tennessee, West Virginia and Virginia with rain coming into the Rappahannock River basin. The National Weather Service says rain could move into state over the weekend, which Podbielski is concerned could mean flooding in the city by the middle of next week.

He urges residents to tend to their homes and property now in case flood waters reach the city as Florence moves inland over the weekend and next week. Ground water saturation levels before Florence came onshore last week were at 98 percent in Virginia.

"The brunt of the storm is going south but we have to continue to be vigilant," Podbielski said. "People who use downtown parking lots must be mindful of river levels to keep their cars safe from flooding."

The latest tracking shows the hurricane making landfall in the Carolinas late Thursday to early Friday. While the hurricane could take a westward path throughout the weekend, it could turn northward with much of Virginia in the impact area. By then, it will likely have weakened to a tropical depression, according to the National Hurricane Center.

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