Mountain Readers Week will be held Oct. 5-9, 2026! Sign up to read in your community!
Learn more about Be My Neighbor Day! And check out our recap from last year.
On Demand
On Demand
Stream original productions from WVPB
Watch locally produced documentaries & more.
On Demand
On Demand
West Virginia Morning
Inside Appalachia
West Virginia Week
Mountain Stage
Us & Them
The Legislature Today
The Legislature This Week
Send us your comments and questions.
Stream our board meetings.
Check out the latest WVPB news.
Sign up for our newsletter and get weekly updates.
Meet the WVPB staff.
WV Educational Broadcasting Commission, the WVPB Foundation, and the Friends of WVPB.
Come work with us!
Read our annual report and learn how we educate, inform and inspire with your support.
Sponsor impactful and engaging media and entertainment.
Use your IRA to make a gift to WVPB.
Become a member with your gift of $1,000 or more.
Make WVPB part of your legacy.
Manage your membership account.
Learn how you can Protect and Sustain West Virginia Public Broadcasting.
On Thursday June 23, massive flooding swept across most of West Virginia. It began with a rare event- a tornado touched down in Nicholas County, West Virginia on the afternoon of Tuesday, June 21. Regional rain storms followed but nothing like what started to fall throughout a 22-county region on Thursday, June 23.
People across West Virginia right now are searching for hope, and wondering whether FEMA will provide adequate assistance for their families. Others say their faith is keeping them strong.
Within a tragic 24-36 hour period, at least 23 West Virginians perished. Thousands of homes were flooded, many of them destroyed. There were stories of terror and heroism that came out of this flood.
On Friday, June 24th Inside Appalachia host Jessica Lilly visited Richwood to speak with residents about the devastating flooding that submerged homes and businesses. Workers and volunteers rescued almost 100 people from the Nicholas County Nursing and Rehabilitation Center on Thursday afternoon. She recorded the stories of two men who worked to get the residents out alive. She also spoke with one of the survivors of the flood, Carol Holmes, who says she’s “West Virginia tough. Proud to be here.”
But Richwood is still recovering from a flood that hit in 2003. And it’s tough to recover with limited resources.
With such devastation, a question many of us have been asking is can these small communities rebuild? What does it take to come back from this type of disaster?
One community in southern West Virginia that was in the spotlight for massive flooding in 2001 was spared by the June 23 flood. Host Jessica Lilly wanted to find out how things were going. She made the trip to Mullens, her hometown in Wyoming County, to talk with Charlie Feller, an insurance salesman in town. Listen to the episode to hear what he had to say, 15 years after the flood that ripped through West Virginia’s coalfields.
See more photos, read stories, and tour an interactive map of the communities that were hardest hit by the 2016 flood here.
Music in this episode was provided by Randy Newman, Larry Groce and Joe Ely as heard on Mountain Stage. Other music was from Alan Cathead Johnston, Larry Dowling, and Amanda Watkins.
Our producer is Roxy Todd. Suzanne Higgins edited our show this week. Our executive producer is Jesse Wright. Our audio mixer is Zander Aloi.
We’d love to hear from you. You can e-mail us at feedback@wvpublic.org. Find us on Twitter @InAppalachia or @JessicaYLilly.
Add WVPB as a preferred source on Google to see more from our team
One of the world’s rarest plants, the Peters Mountain Mallow, lives on only one mountainside, in the New River Valley along the West Virginia line. Last year, scientists counted just five plants still alive – and the recent drought means protecting it from extinction is getting tougher.
Continue Reading Take Me to More NewsAs developers rapidly propose data centers across Kentucky, their neighbors are struggling to find out what it will mean for them. For the Appalachia + Mid-South Newsroom, Sylvia Goodman reports that residents are calling for more transparency from developers and their own public officials.
Continue Reading Take Me to More NewsOn this West Virginia Week, plans for a new transmission line may be in trouble, a former state delegate is indicted, and the state has a new secretary of tourism.
Continue Reading Take Me to More NewsThis week, a new report finds the number of black lung cases is at its highest since the 1970s. The human cost is high. Also, the author of a new book says reintroducing nearly extinct animals back into the wild can boost damaged ecosystems, but they can't repair them. And, roadside attractions pay tribute to our enduring fascination with weird.
Continue Reading Take Me to More News
