Hurricane Gaston (2004)

Hurricane Gaston was the third of five hurricanes to make landfall in the United States during the 2004 Atlantic hurricane season, which produced deadly floods in and around Richmond, Virginia. Gaston originated toward the end of August 2004 from a dissipating cold front, the same one that also spawned Tropical Storm Hermine. Gaston developed on August 27, off the coast of South Carolina. It slowly intensified while moving toward the coast, and Gaston made landfall at Awendaw, South Carolina, between Charleston and McClellanville, as a Category 1 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson scale with maximum sustained winds of 75 mph (120 km/h). Although it weakened over land into a tropical depression, Gaston drew moisture to produce supercell thunderstorms across central Virginia. The heaviest rainfall from Gaston was 12.60 in (320 mm), measured in the West End of Richmond. Gaston reintensified into a tropical storm by the time it emerged into the western Atlantic Ocean. It passed southeast of Nantucket before transitioning into an extratropical cyclone on September 1. The remnants of Gaston lasted until September 3 when they were absorbed by a larger extratropical storm south of Iceland.

Gaston struck South Carolina a few weeks after Hurricane Charley hit the state, marking the first time since the 1959 season that two tropical cyclones struck the state in the same year. Gaston added to Charley's rainfall, leading to river flooding and road closures. About 172,000 people lost power in South Carolina. Gaston spawned 20 tornadoes along its path, most of them weak. The worst flooding damage occurred in the Richmond, Virginia area. There, nine people died, eight of them directly related to the storm. The floods left 20 blocks of buildings condemned in Richmond's Shockoe Bottom district, where the waters reached 10 ft (3.0 m) deep. Gaston also produced rainfall that had damaging effects as far north as New York. Nationwide damage totaled $130 million (2004 USD).