Ongoing inclement weather in the Mountain State has dumped about an inch and a half of rain on the central part of the state, but anywhere from three to four inches of rain on the western part of the state in the past two days, according to the National Weather Service (NWS).
The NWS forecasts heavy rainfall across the state that will continue well into Sunday.
“The rain started late Wednesday into Thursday morning, and in terms of total rainfall, there has been one to four inches of rain,” said Joe Curtis, meteorologist at the NWS Charleston office. “We are finally going to get some dry weather next Monday.”
Twenty-three counties across West Virginia are currently under flood warnings, with reports of localized flash flooding already occurring Friday.
Meanwhile, Gov. Patrick Morrisey placed all 55 counties under a state of preparedness Wednesday through Sunday, readying emergency response officials for possible strong winds and severe rainfall.
“This time of year, we can get some strong systems moving through the region,” Curtis said. “This (spring) is a transition period where we can get some persistent systems.”
On Friday, Sen. Rupie Phillips, R-Logan, rose during Member Remarks at the end of the Senate floor session to ask his colleagues for help in drafting a resolution to send to Washington, D.C., to clean out the streams in his county, and many others like it in the southern coalfields.
“Right now, currently in Logan County, we’re flooding again,” Phillips said. “I’ve been trying to work on a resolution to send to D.C. to get the Army Corps involved, to get DEP involved, stream restoration. We have to fix this. It’s not even a little over a month, and we’re back again.”
Phillips asked his fellow lawmakers to assist him in writing the resolution before the conclusion of the legislative session on April 12.
“These streams are full of just fuel and everything,” Philips said.“There’s islands in the middle of the Guyandotte River, something needs to be done, we need to get this flooding under control. We can’t continue to get FEMA to come down here and that’s your tax dollars that FEMA is spending, and thank God that we have them, but we need to do something to prevent any flooding.”
The governor’s office urges residents to visit the National Weather Service website for updates throughout the weekend.