County warns residents as Tropical Storm Debbie shifts west; flood watch in northern Fauquier

Fauquier County emergency officials warned residents on Aug. 8 that Tropical Storm Debbie, now a tropical depression in local forecasts, had shifted westward and could produce its main impacts overnight.

An emergency official told the Board the county can expect the brunt of the storm between roughly 6 p.m. and 6 a.m., with general totals of 3–4 inches of rain countywide but the northern portion of the county potentially seeing 5–9 inches in concentrated bursts. The official said the Rappahannock River and its reach down to Remington were on a flood watch and that flash flooding and roadway inundation are possible where the rain rates exceed 1–2 inches per hour.

"If you don't have to drive tonight, if it's raining really severely, please don't get out of the house," the emergency official said. The official added there are 30 mph gusts in forecasts and a roughly 2-in-5 chance of a tornado spawning from the system in the area.

Chief Smith of Fire & Rescue said crews were reinforced and two boats would be staffed through the night to respond to water-rescue incidents. "We've beefed up all of our crews right now. We've got 2 boats that we'll be staffing through the night and probably through tomorrow," he said, adding that the department felt prepared up to roughly 5 inches of rain but would be more concerned above that threshold.

Officials urged residents to prepare for power outages and to avoid travel unless necessary; staff said current power outages were minimal at the time of briefing. The county posted the flood watch for northern Fauquier and is monitoring river gauges at Remington, where one read could approach about 17 feet under the forecasted rainfall scenario, with higher readings posing risk to a small number of houses near the river.

The county said it would continue monitoring National Weather Service updates and advised residents to follow county emergency notifications.