Contact:                               May 27, 1998
Stephanie Kenitzer

The National Weather Service today released a disaster survey team report reviewing weather service performance during the flooding events across the Northeast in January 1996.

An unusually intense rainfall and rapid snow melt on January 18-19, 1996, resulted in major flooding on rivers from Virginia to New York, and in the upper reaches of the Ohio River. Record river crests were set in Pennsylvania, New York, West Virginia and Maryland. The floods resulted in 33 fatalities and millions of dollars in damages.

The survey team's report found that National Weather Service Weather Forecast Offices and River Forecast Centers performed exceptionally well during the flooding, and emergency managers, already mobilized due to the Blizzard of 1996 just two weeks earlier, were prepared to handle the flood event. The complete report is available on the Internet at http://hsp.nws.noaa.gov/hrl/surveys/index.htm