Governor Earl Ray Tomblin says it will be some time before the state has fully recovered after devastating floods in late June. He says he anticipates the damage to well-exceed $100 million.
Governor Tomblin held a press conference Wednesday to update the state on the status of recovery efforts in West Virginia.
Tomblin says 12 counties have been approved for FEMA assistance, and more than 7,000 residents have applied for individual assistance. FEMA has approved more than $28 million for individuals and households.
More than 3,300 visitors have stopped by at recovery centers. More than 400 disaster-related unemployment claims have been filed.
Roadways impacted by the flooding have reached about $55 million worth of damages.
“Obviously this, you know, as big as it is, it’s going to take some,” Tomblin said, “and you know, it will be expensive and ongoing for some time to handle all the cleanup of this event.”
Tomblin says he’s planning to schedule a special session sometime soon to see what the state Legislature can do to help in the relief efforts.
A sheriff says a body found in Greenbrier County over the weekend has been identified as a woman who had been missing following last month’s devastating floods.
Greenbrier County Sheriff Jan Cahill said Wednesday that one of two bodies found Saturday was positively identified as 33-year-old Nataysha Hughes of White Sulphur Springs.
Cahill says her body was found along property owned by The Greenbrier resort about a mile from her home.
The sheriff says the name of the other victim found Saturday hasn’t been confirmed by the state medical examiner’s office.
Greenbrier County was the hardest-hit from the June 23 floods. Authorities have said 14 people died and one person is missing and presumed dead. Statewide, 23 people were killed.
The two tents set up in a grocery store parking lot in Clendenin were overflowing with people waiting for tetanus vaccines Tuesday afternoon. A shipment of about 1,000 had been promised from out of state, but the FedEx truck holding them was held up in Memphis. Health Right, a free clinic based in Charleston, had about 50 to offer.
“I knew these people were out here waiting and so we do what we do best at free clinics,” said Angie Settle, executive director of Health Right. “We get our boots on the ground, we call people, [and] we tell them what the situation is. We have a good name in the community so people know our hearts are in the right place and they reach out for us.”
So by the time she pulled up to the makeshift hospital around 3 p.m., she had 250 doses with her from four Charleston-based donors – enough to cover that afternoon’s demand.
The vaccinations are part of a public health push to protect the people exposed to floodwater against bacterial disease, particularly tetanus.
Tetanus is a bacterial infection that affects the nervous system. It’s also known as “lockjaw” because it can cause your neck and jaw to lock, making it hard to open your mouth or swallow.
For the past 70 years, tetanus has been steadily declining in the U.S. due to the introduction of vaccines. But it’s still possible to get it through exposure to the bacteria in soil or contaminated water.
Credit Kara Lofton / WV Public Broadcasting
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WV Public Broadcasting
The makeshift hospital in Clendenin, WV
Floodwater and residual mud like West Virginia experienced this past week are prime breeding grounds for the bacteria that causes tetanus because “there’s a mix of flood water and sewage that happens,” said commissioner of public health Rahul Gupta.
“The challenge with especially the sewage is the bacteria that can remain alive, and those bacteria can not only remain alive, but can actually grow,” he said.
So if you were a victim of the floods or a first responder or even a reporter who has been mucking around in a cocktail of floodwater, feces and unknown chemicals, you might be at risk.
The very best way to protect yourself against the tetanus bacteria is by using gloves, wearing rubber boots and properly cleaning any cuts. Tetanus bacteria enters the system through contact with the skin.
“So for contact, it really depends if they have any open wounds or abrasions,” said Gupta. “And oftentimes what would happen is you may not always be aware while you are cleaning [that] you have some skin breaks and may have some abrasions that may happen. And you may not feel those, so there can be contact with skin, but especially if it is not intact, and no matter how microscopic, those are bacteria can seep in.”
But vaccines are vitally important too – victims and first responders often did not have all the cleaning supplies they needed in the first few days following the flood.
Credit Kara Lofton / WV Public Broadcasting
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WV Public Broadcasting
Angie Settle (left) holds tetanus vaccines at the makeshift hospital in Clendenin.
Fortunately almost everyone is vaccinated for tetanus as children these days. It is one of those vaccines required to enroll in school. But adults need a booster every 10 years to retain their immunity. However, boosters do take a couple weeks before they build full immunity.
Tamra Stall, a family practice doctor in Greenbrier County, said since tetanus has an incubation period of 3 to 21 days, boosters can still help protect people.
“The sooner after exposure they are inoculated, if they have not particularly had it before, the better prevention will be,” she said.
Stall’s office has given more than 1,000 doses of tetanus so far. Staff ran out of the vaccines Monday afternoon. By Monday evening, more than 100 people were on a waiting list. The office received 250 donated doses Tuesday and another 250 Wednesday. The state health department ordered several thousand new doses Monday to address the need for the vaccine across the state.
Appalachia Health News is a project of West Virginia Public Broadcasting, with support from the Benedum Foundation.
The devastating flood last week displaced not only people, but also many pets. Lots of folks are having a hard time finding a place for their furry friends to stay as they look for a new home. Some Humane Associations in the state are stepping up to do what they can to help – like the Kanawha County Humane Association.
Dozens of volunteers stood outside the Kanawha County Humane Association on Tuesday in the hot sun, loading up heavy bags of dog and cat food onto trucks.
“Today we’re accepting dog food or actually any donations animal related,” said Joshua Felty, Director of Operations at the Kanawha County Humane Association, “We’re using some of it at the shelter here, and we’re also loading up trucks and sending food up to Clendenin, Elkview, all over the place, just wherever they need help up there.”
Credit Liz McCormick / West Virginia Public Broadcasting
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West Virginia Public Broadcasting
Literally thousands of pounds of pet food were donated on Tuesday alone, but Felty says that’s not the only way his organization is trying to help.
“We’re offering free boarding as well, so it’s not just impoundment,” he said, “Once those animals come in, we vaccinate, and we’re doing all that for free. We’ve had several animals come in that have already went home. They’re still coming in though.”
At the time of this interview, Felty said his facility was holding about twenty dogs for flood victims.
“Some people are going to shelters, and they can’t take their animals with them, so we will hold them as long as we need to, and again that’s going to be free of charge. You know, it’s the least we could do.”
The West Virginia Division of Agriculture reports several shelters are open for pets in the wake of flooding events:
Kanawha County — Kanawha-Charleston Humane Association 1248 Greenbrier Street Charleston, WV 25311. Phone Number (304) 342-1576. Opened on Saturday June 25.
Greenbrier County — Greenbrier County Humane Association 151 Holliday Drive Lewisburg, WV. Phone Number (304) 645-4775. Opened on Tuesday, June 28.
Fayette County — Fayette County Volunteers 26719 Midland Trail (Midland Trail High School) Lookout, WV. Opened on Tuesday, June 28. Point of Contact Is: Kevin Walker (304) 574-1610.
The town of Rainelle, a town of about 1,500 people, was largely evacuated last Thursday because of the flood. Water rose about 5 ft. in parts of the town, damaging businesses, homes, and the library. Fred Fryar was one of the evacuees. He’s the pastor of Sewell Valley Baptist Church. Two days later, he was working on cleaning his home.
Fred Fryar’s front lawn was covered in mud as he was carrying most of he and his wife’s furniture, clothes, and personal belongings out to the curb. Most of it had been destroyed.
But he had a smile on his face. Because, he said, “you get to the place where laughing is what you can do about it,” said Fryar. He lost at least two church members who passed away in the flood. He says he’s lucky to be alive.
He called 911 four times to be rescued. Emergency responders were dealing with evacuations all over Greenbrier County that night. Volunteers came to help from all over the state. Members of Fryar’s church knew he was stranded, so they found two volunteers who had brought their personal John boat. Fryar didn’t know if anyone was coming. It was dark. The water was up to his chest.
His neighbor 79-year-old Helen Hanson was also trapped.
Hanson says she was praying all day long for help to come.
“I finally decided when it started to get dark, ‘Lord you have completely forgotten about me.’”
Then around 11 at night, Fryer saw the John boat moving down the street towards them.
“So I hollered at her, and said the boat’s comin, the boat’s comin.”
Fred Fryar is the pastor of Sewell Valley Baptist Church.
Fryar says there were so many people who were scared and stuck in their homes. Not all of them survived.
He says he heard “people hollering ‘help help’ that night, older people that needed some help and knew that if they didn’t get it they were done for.”
Helen Hanson was about to give up. She decided she would if the water reached the back of her neck.
“I was just going to let it put me under the water. Cause I knew that’s what’s gonna happen. And it’s not a very good feeling,” Hanson remembers.
“The water was cold and it kept getting colder on my legs. It kept getting colder and colder, and it was terrible. But the good Lord was with me.”
Not long after Hanson considered giving up, the volunteers arrived. Fred Fryer told her to rescue Hanson first. They carried her into their boat.
They had to lift her into the boat because she could hardly use her legs.
Neither Hanson nor Fryar found out the names of the two guys who rescued them. If it hadn’t been for them, they both say they don’t know if they would have been saved in time.
“People in West Virginia’s just good like that. And they’re ready to help. And some of them don’t even know you, but they’re ready to help,” said Fryar.
For the next few days, Fryar and his wife, and Helen Hanson have been staying with members of Fryar’s church, who live in Meadowbridge.
Like most of the displaced people from Rainelle, they’re waiting to see what happens once FEMA arrives.
“Things are lookin up. God is so good to us. He said he would work things out to our good … I don’t know how he’s gonna do that, but he’s gonna do it,” Fryar said, choking back tears.
A day after he was interviewed, Fryar did receive some good news. He and his wife Kathy were offered a temporary home in Rainelle. The home is owned by Helen Hanson’s family. Hanson plans to go there too, and the three of them will be able to stay there as long as it takes to rebuild their homes.
Seventy-five-year-old Carol Holmes lives in Nicholas County, one of the counties hit hardest by the downpours that fell on June 23. Several people have died because of the severe weather. Governor Earl Ray Tomblin called the floods “the worst in a century for some parts of the state.” The Associated Press reports that President Obama spoke to Tomblin by phone Saturday to offer federal assistance and condolences to the people of West Virginia.
This is the second time her home has been flooded in the past 20 years. Listen to her explain why she doesn’t want to leave Richwood. She also explains that tough times are nothing new to her family. She also explains why she’s “West Virginia tough.”
