First responders in Buchanan County began receiving reports of rising water and damage Tuesday night after a torrential rainstorm in the mountainous area. Several small communities in the Virginia county that borders West Virginia and Kentucky were affected.
Authorities in a remote corner of southwest Virginia have located all but three of the 44 people who were reported unaccounted for after devastating flooding washed out roadways and damaged more than 100 homes.
Buchanan County Sheriff John McClanahan said Thursday that crews from state and local agencies worked throughout the night to locate and reunite residents with their loved ones. He said there are no reports of injuries or deaths.
First responders in Buchanan County began receiving reports of rising water and damage Tuesday night after a torrential rainstorm in the mountainous area. Several small communities in the Virginia county that borders West Virginia and Kentucky were affected.
County Sheriff’s Office Chief Deputy Eric Breeding said Wednesday that the number of people unaccounted for is based on relatives trying to contact a resident in an area where there may be limited or no phone service.
“It doesn’t necessarily mean that they are in trouble or in danger. They’re just letting us know that we need to check on these people,” Breeding told reporters.
McClanahan said Thursday that the floodwaters are receding and the county is working with the Virginia Department of Transportation crews to assess damages to homes and to remove debris and mud from the roadways to get them re-opened.
Residents said they were stunned by dramatic flooding that caused mudslides that blocked roads and washed homes off foundations.
“We gathered at my house and we said if it got any higher that, we were just going to start heading up in the mountains to try to get safe, but luckily, thank God, we didn’t have to,” Deana Kimbrough told WCYB-TV.
Seth Owens told the station he was among people who sought refuge at a post office and witnessed houses washing away.
“The next thing you know, the house is floating on down through there. … Two of the houses washed off,” he said.
In Whitewood, an unincorporated community with a population of about 500, mud left from the flooding was 1 to 2 feet deep in some places. At least one bridge had collapsed, and one home appeared to have been pulled from its foundation and carried across the street, where it was perched on top of a car Thursday morning.
Flash flooding washed out roads in McDowell County Tuesday night. The West Virginia Department of Transportation has been working since then to assess the damage to repair the roads.
Flash flooding washed out roads in McDowell County Tuesday night. The West Virginia Department of Transportation has been working since then to assess the damage to repair the roads.
Heavy rains washed out road shoulders, a culvert and undermined parts of several roads in the communities of War, Warriormine and Berwind.
The roads are impassable and therefore closed to traffic. Residents can use Berwind Mountain Road as a detour but not until water levels go down.
One resident lost access to their property after flood waters washed away a private bridge.
Engineers are assessing the damage. Those reports will help the WVDOH assess how to replace the culvert and repair the roads as quickly as possible.
In his Tuesday coronavirus briefing, Gov. Jim Justice announced that FEMA has ruled that the damage from the May 6, 2022 flooding in Cabell, Putnam and Roane Counties was not enough to qualify for federal assistance.
In his Tuesday coronavirus briefing, Gov. Jim Justice announced that FEMA has ruled that the damage from the May 6, 2022 flooding in Cabell, Putnam and Roane Counties was not enough to qualify for federal assistance.
Justice said the state would appeal the ruling.
“We have 30 days to appeal, ” Justice said. “We’re going to do so and we’re going to push as hard as we possibly can. But it’s a disappointment to tell you the truth.”
In Huntington, more than 200 households were damaged or affected by the floods.
Huntington Mayor Steve Williams said he was disappointed with the FEMA decision.
“I am disappointed that FEMA has denied assistance to our residents who suffered significant damage from the May 6th flood,” Williams said. However, I am appreciative of all of the local, county and state agencies that worked tirelessly in this effort. These strong partnerships are what will be required as we explore long-term mitigation projects to reduce the risk of flooding in our neighborhoods.”
After heavy rain doused the region on Sunday, rivers, creeks and streams rose above flood level and closed dozens of roads across West Virginia on Monday.
The National Weather Service (NWS) extended flood warnings until 10 p.m. for regions of the state in the east and west.
“Flooding, significant in many areas, persists across the area,” the NWS wrote in a warning around noon. “Many roads remain closed as a result, especially secondary roads. Despite rain having ended, floodwaters will remain high for much of the remainder of the day.”
Photos posted to social media showed a slew of abandoned, submerged vehicles as well as roadways and neighborhoods in floodwaters.
On Saturday, Gov. Jim Justice declared a state of preparedness for 50 counties, with the exception of the Northern Panhandle, in advance of expected flooding.
The flooding has closed over a hundred roads in the greater Huntington area for the same residents who have just recovered from a series of winter storms that knocked out power to tens of thousands last month.
In Kanawha County, emergency services responded to 10 water rescues and in a Facebook post urged motorists to not drive through standing water and avoid regions prone to flooding.
Appalachian Power reports 8,000 customers in West Virginia are without power as of 1 p.m. Monday.
Rising floodwaters from the Elk River broke a water plant and pumps in Clay County and the Clay Roane Public Service District told customers they will run out of water Monday evening.
“Our Procious tanks are dangerous low and can not be refilled until the waters recede and the issue is repaired,” they wrote in a Facebook post.
The NWS forecasted “moderate flooding” in areas along the Elk, Tug Fork, Coal and Mud rivers and extended warnings along the Elk River into Tuesday.
In north-central West Virginia, rivers are forecasted to crest Monday evening at or just below minor flood level, lower than initial forecasts predicting historic flood levels.
The remnants of Hurricane Laura are expected to make their way across West Virginia late Friday evening and into early Saturday morning, according to federal weather forecasters.
The National Weather Service said the storm, which made landfall as a Category 4 hurricane along the Gulf Coast in Cameron, Louisiana, is expected to be significantly weaker when it travels through the Mountain State.
West Virginians, especially in the southern parts of the state, can expect wind gusts up to 20-30 miles per hour. However, rainfall associated with the storm is the main concern, said Dave Marksalek, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Charleston.
Laura made landfall across SW Louisiana early today. The remnants of the storm system will arrive here Fri night. Our area will NOT experience hurricane conditions, but rather a MUCH weaker area of low pressure with the potential for significant rain. #wvwx#vawx#ohwx#kywxpic.twitter.com/UcSHUENg0j
“Wind shouldn’t be the biggest factor with this,” he said. “It’s going to be the rain that it brings to the region.”
The NWS predicts Laura will bring 1-2 inches of rain to parts of the state. However, much of West Virginia has already seen rainfall in recent days.
On Thursday, the NWS reported 3 to almost 5 inches of rain fell in far northern Clay County, northern Nicholas County, and southern Braxton and Webster counties prompting some reports of flash flooding.
Flash Flood Warning has been extended until 10:45 PM for Braxton, Clay, Nicholas and Webster Counties. More flood photos coming in from Nicholas County. (Craigsville) Thank you to Susan for sending these in pic.twitter.com/Amb1FXjxB7
More storms are expected today as well as late Saturday, after the remnants of Laura pass through.
Marksalek said storm activity before and after Laura sets up parts of West Virginia for possible flooding.
“If we get more areas across the state that receive a lot of rain from the showers and storms today, before Laura arrives, it can create some additional problems as Laura moves through,” he said.
Marksalek said so far it appears the remnants of Laura are moving quickly, and he expects the system to pass through West Virginia in a matter of hours.
This story was updated on June 16, 2020, at 4:50 p.m. to include a statement from the Environmental Protection Agency.
The rain poured down for hours on Sunday, slamming the valleys of Fayette County with water. As the earth became saturated, local streams swelled.
Minden resident Marie Collins said the water washed out the underpinning of her house.
“We had to sleep in the car last night,” Collins said on Monday.
Weather experts estimate nearby Oak Hill received roughly 5.5 inches of rain in six hours. Minden is just a few miles away and lies in a valley.
“I was too scared to come in the house, because I was afraid my house would come off the foundation,” she said.
The next day, several feet of water surrounded the Collins home. Marie Collins said she noticed an oily substance floating on top that she could smell from inside her home.
PCB has contaminated the soil in Minden, the EPA has said, and residents fear that the chemical is flushed out every time it floods, much like Sunday night.
“I’m scared of [the] water now. I’m just so scared,” Collins said. “And then I have got three boys, a 13-year-old, an 11 and a seven-year-old. I don’t want them to have cancer.”
Credit Marie Collins
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Marie Collins
The floods on Sunday, June 14, in Fayette County washed out the underpinning of the Collins’ house in Minden.
On Tuesday, the EPA said initial inspections “indicate no significant damage” to the cap structure encompassing the dump site, or other structures the EPA has put in place to separate PCB oil from the Minden community.
“There is no indication that capped site material was transported away from the site,” the EPA stated in a press release.
Gov. Jim Justice issued a state of emergency for Fayette County Sunday night, deploying state highway workers to the area to free up debris from the roads and begin repairing some of the more long-lasting damage.
A local state of emergency from the county commission that afternoon specifically named Oak Hill, Scarbro, Minden and Whipple.
Justice said in a virtual press briefing Monday morning there were no known deaths or injuries from the flooding. There were, however, nearly 20 home and car rescues by the local swiftwater rescue team.
Credit Marie Collins
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A rescue boat in Minden, W.Va., helping people with the aftermath of Sunday’s flooding.
Not A First-Time Flood
Annetta Coffman, another lifelong local, recalled a disastrous flood to the area 19 years ago. Every time the water levels rise for smaller, more regular floods that happen every summer, Coffman said residents are afraid to drink locally sourced water or do much outside.
“With oil, it travels because it attaches to mud. Right now, it’s mud and sand everywhere, so it’s hard to tell exactly what the people right now are walking in,” Coffman said of the flood damage Sunday night.
Coffman’s home also flooded several feet high Sunday night, but she said it wasn’t as devastating as the flood in 2001, when she lost her first home and all of her possessions.
“You work so hard. It’s a poor community anyway, and you work to try to have things, and then, something like that can be gone within 30 minutes,” she said.
In addition to the oil, and the expensive loss of having to repair one’s home or find a new one, Coffman said flooding also tends to free up raw sewage.
“And so that now is in our homes,” she said. “People are trying to figure out how to clean up their home. You take the risk of getting Hepatitis A.”
Minden and the surrounding area has also been ravaged by sewage contamination, which the EPA addressed in 2016. According to the report, this was the result of failing and downright non-existent systems to manage human waste. In 2017, a $23 million sewage and water drainage project began in efforts to prevent future contamination by flooding.
But Coffman said many of her neighbors’ houses were flooded with at least two feet of contaminated water Sunday night.
A Developing Response
The Division of Highways entered Fayette County Sunday evening, and will continue working from the area for the next week and a half. Deputy State Highway Engineer Greg Bailey said Monday staff are prioritizing repairs in areas where there are no alternative routes.
“We’re focusing a lot on areas where people are completely blocked and don’t have a way out,” Bailey said Monday.
During his virtual press briefing, Gov. Justice said he anticipated the DOH will have most repairs finished within a week and a half.
Warm Hands From Warm Hearts, a local outreach ministry operating the Center of Hope in Oak Hill, has set up cots in case anyone needs a place to stay. Director Mike Bone said the center also has a shower and a kitchen for anyone in need.
The Red Cross and Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster, or VOAD, were gathering buckets of cleaning supplies to donate Monday morning, and assessing the best way to provide assistance, given restrictions from the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
As for Marie Collins, whose home sustained permanent damage in 2001 and now again Sunday night, she said she plans to eventually use lime, a powder chemical for flooding, to help battle the smell of oil and sewage in her front yard.
“I’m just so ready to move,” Collins said. “If I had the money to move, I would move.”
This story is part of West Virginia Public Broadcasting’s Southern Coalfields Reporting Project which is supported by a grant from the National Coal Heritage Area Authority.
