New Round Of Flooding Hits Across W.Va., More Possibly On The Way

Residents in the Wheeling area are once again assessing damage after a Thursday night flood, less than two weeks after deadly flash floods. The waters rose just hours after Gov. Patrick Morrisey confirmed the ninth death in connection to the June 14 flooding.

At a press conference Friday morning in Fairmont, another area recovering from flash floods, the governor thanked first responders and community members for their continued work.

“People were called to action to do things, to put their own safety at risk to step up to help their fellow man, that’s an amazing thing, and we have to remember that, and we have to make sure that we take that positive away,” he said.

It was confirmed that there are no longer any people considered actively missing from the floods, and Morrisey reaffirmed that there have been no fatalities associated with the flooding in Marion County.

“We can rebuild our homes. We can obtain personal belongings. You can’t bring people back to life,” he said. “And I want to say to folks that I want to honor the spirit of how West Virginians have come together to honor the memory of the people that died through no fault of their own.”

Morrisey said the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is on the ground collecting damage assessments and asks residents affected by flooding to submit disaster surveys to help a potential major disaster declaration from the federal government.

The flooding Thursday also resulted in the West Virginia Turnpike being closed overnight, and reports indicated some people were stuck in their vehicles for as long as eight hours. 

“We are grateful that there were no injuries as a result of the flooding and traffic stoppage,” Chuck Smith, executive director of the West Virginia Department of Transportation (WVDOT) released a statement Friday afternoon. 

According to WVDOT, a mudslide blocked a drain pipe that then allowed water to flood the road. Smith admitted “traffic should have been detoured to allow drivers an alternate route around” a mudslide on the turnpike.

“The Parkways Authority takes full responsibility for the failure to reroute traffic, and would like to assure the public that this will never happen again. At the direction of Governor Patrick Morrisey, the Parkways Authority is already examining and revising its policies on Turnpike closures and detours as a result of this incident.”

Morrisey vowed to investigate whether human error exacerbated the issue.

“I’m going to tell you that we’re going to get to the bottom of things to make sure that everything is done right,” he said. “And if there are problems that were decisions that were made that were bad, we’re going to make sure that we let people know about that. But we’re investigating and reviewing all of that. But most importantly, we’re trying to make sure that that road is fully passable.”

Flooding and downed trees were also reported Thursday night in southern regions of the state like Logan County, where residents are still building back after floods in February.

The issue of how the state is preparing for future flooding events, and whether funding the Flood Resiliency Fund would play a part in those efforts, was once again broached at the press conference. The governor pointed to ongoing resiliency efforts and said he was open to discussion with the legislature.

“I think it is important to look at the plan that was originally put in place in 2004 because a lot of that was never really funded over the years. So I’m very open to doing this to make sure that things that are avoidable can be avoided,” Morrisey said. “ If that means putting some additional resources in we do that.”

Morrisey argued that many of the events across the state in recent weeks were unavoidable. 

“If you went up to Triadelphia and you were in Elm Grove and you saw the pace in which the rain came down, you’re talking about four inches in 40 minutes and what happened in Marion County,” Morrisey said. “A lot of that, no amount of preparation, everyone would say, would have been able to prepare for that.”

Friday afternoon, the National Weather Service office in Pittsburgh placed the Wheeling region under a flood watch until at least midnight. The watch extends through most of eastern West Virginia, and as far south as Blacksburg, Virginia.