A total of 26 counties in West Virginia are now under a state of emergency declaration following heavy rains, tornadoes and storms last week, and the heavy rains and storms that hit the state on April 11.
A total of 26 counties in West Virginia are now under a state of emergency declaration following heavy rains, tornadoes and storms last week, and the heavy rains and storms that hit the state on April 11.
Gov. Jim Justice has amended last week’s State of Emergency to include Boone, Braxton, Calhoun, Doddridge, Gilmer, Harrison, Jackson, Logan, Mingo, Ritchie, Roane, Tyler, Wayne and Wirt counties.
The initial group included Fayette, Kanawha, Lincoln and Nicholas counties on April 2, and then two days later, the governor added Barbour, Brooke, Hancock, Marshall, Ohio, Wetzel, and Wood counties. On April 8, Justice added Pleasants County.
West Virginia Division of Highways (WVDOH) road crews continue to work to assess and clean up damage caused by a massive storm that moved through the state on April 11.
Most of the state had been under a tornado watch until 9 p.m. Thursday. Tornadoes did not materialize, but high winds and a largely stationary storm front dumped record amounts of rainfall on the Kanawha Valley and other parts of West Virginia, leading to mud and rock slides, downed trees and flash flooding.
Some parts of the state received five inches of rainfall in the space of several hours.
WVDOH Chief Engineer of Operations Joe Pack said the worst of the flooding was concentrated north of Interstate 64.
As of 2 p.m. Friday, April 12, multiple roads remained closed by high water in Kanawha, Cabell, Jackson, Clay, Mason, Lincoln, Pleasants, Wood, Doddridge, Harrison, Marion, Monongalia, Morgan, Brooke, Marshall, Ohio, Tyler and Wetzel counties.
In Kanawha County, record rainfall overwhelmed storm drains on Interstate 64 near the Greenbrier Street exit, flooding the interstate. WVDOH work crews waded into the rushing water with rakes to clear the drains by hand.
Pack said that, once the water recedes, WVDOH road crews can assess any damage to the roadway and plan any repairs.
The State of Emergency declaration is a proactive measure ensuring the allocation of necessary resources and expediting emergency response efforts. It allows state and local agencies to take swift and decisive actions to mitigate the dangers to protect the lives and property of West Virginians.
Residents are encouraged to remain vigilant and monitor official emergency management and local media accounts for updates.
Last week, Justice issued a State of Preparedness for all 55 counties, which is still in effect.
Uniformed service members, military retirees and their families served by TRICARE are eligible for emergency prescription refills due to recent inclement weather.
The Defense Health Agency announced Thursday that TRICARE beneficiaries in four counties in West Virginia may receive emergency prescription refills now through April 13, 2024, due to storm damage.
The Defense Health Agency and TRICARE serve uniformed service members, military retirees and their families.
Beneficiaries in Fayette, Kanawha, Lincoln and Nicholas counties are eligible for the emergency waiver.
On Thursday afternoon, Gov. Jim Justice amended his State of Emergency to include Barbour, Brooke, Hancock, Marshall, Ohio, Wetzel and Wood counties.
The Defense Health Agency told West Virginia Public Broadcasting via email that the waiver will not be extended to those counties at this time.
To receive an emergency medication refill, TRICARE beneficiaries should take their prescription bottle to any TRICARE retail network pharmacy. Patients are advised to visit the pharmacy where the prescription was originally filled.
To find a network pharmacy, beneficiaries may call Express Scripts at 1-877-363-1303 or search the network pharmacy locator.
Residents of Wheeling were cleaning up Wednesday after a strong storm Tuesday morning.
Residents of Wheeling were cleaning up Wednesday after a strong storm Tuesday morning. The damage is significant, but isolated.
Generators, chainsaws, and woodchippers provided a soundtrack Wednesday as the Wheeling community recovered from the Tuesday morning storm that knocked out power to most of downtown, Wheeling Hospital, and several communities to the east.
The damage was severe enough that Gov. Jim Justice declared a state of emergency for Ohio County Wednesday afternoon that will remain in effect for 30 days.
At its height, the storm passed through the area with sustained winds of 60-70 miles per hour, and gusts of up to 80 miles per hour.
Lou Vargo, the Director of the Wheeling–Ohio County Homeland Security and Emergency Management Agency, says the trail of damage indicates a unique weather event.
“It’s a straight line event,” Vargo said. He is asking the National Weather Service to investigate.
“And they said, ‘So are you thinking a tornado?’ We’re not seeing the twisting of the trees coming out. It’s just literally uprooted these trees, 100 year old trees, three or four foot diameter trunks of trees that were just lifted right out of the ground,” he said. “You can almost look on a map and just draw a straight line, put an arrow and say ‘This is how it came through.’”
Some of the promised 100 work crews have already arrived to help restore power as quickly as possible. As of Wednesday evening, 7,000 residents remained without power, but an American Electric Power (AEP) representative said restoration would continue late into the evening.
The number of residents without power had improved to 5,000 by Thursday morning.
“This is an all hands on deck situation,” said Joelle Moray, External Affairs Manager with AEP.
Justice also announced members of the National Guard will be on the ground Thursday to help with cleanup.
No fatalities or injuries directly related to the storm have been reported. Vargo hopes it stays that way, and urges any residents using power tools or moving large downed trees and limbs to use caution.
Sections of trees downed by Tuesday’s storm had to be cleared to make roads in Wheeling Park passable. The park bore the brunt of the damage from the storm, and park officials estimate more than 100 trees were damaged.Workers in Wheeling Park feed debris into a wood chipper as part of cleanup efforts Wednesday. A strong storm on he morning of June 14 caused significant damage to the park’s trees.
To the east of downtown, Wheeling Park seemed to bear the brunt of the storm’s force. Park manager Nat Goudy said more than 100 trees were damaged, many of them large and decades old.
“Some massive, massive trees that were 50, 60 feet high, just drop, snap like a twig,” Goudy said.
So many trees were down Tuesday morning, Goudy said he couldn’t even drive into the park and had to come in on foot. The park’s roads had been cleared Wednesday, but the park was still without power. Goudy hopes it will be restored soon so the park can return to being a center of the community even as cleanup efforts continue.
“We’re the city park,” he said. “It was amazing seeing the support of the people coming in yesterday. ‘What can we do? Can we bring some rakes over? We’re here to help you.’ You know, just people who love the parks, want to make sure it stays open.”
Vicky Yost echoed that sentiment of camaraderie.
“In the middle of a catastrophe, in the middle of what could have been a tragedy, I looked up my lane and I saw eight of my neighbors coming down,” she said.
Yost lives across National Road from Wheeling Park in the Stamm Lane area, which was directly in the path of the storm.
One of those helpful neighbors was Terry Huffman, who described being woken up by the storm.
“It was the wee hours of the morning. I’m not sure exactly what time but it hit hard and fast, five minutes, maybe,” Huffman said. “Literally the whole house shook and was as loud as a train going through your house.”
Huffman was helping the Yosts get a generator installed to make sure they had a way to cool themselves down.
“The biggest thing now is we have people without air conditioning, and it’s going to be really super hot today,” he said.
Terry Huffman assessed storm damage in front of his house in the Stamm Lane area of Wheeling. Huffman considered himself lucky, as falling trees just missed hitting his home during the June 14 storm.A black walnut tree blown over by the June 14 storm lies precariously over a street in the Stamm Lane area of Wheeling.
According to data from the National Weather Service in Pittsburgh, Wednesday’s high in Wheeling was 92. But with high humidity, the heat index –- or what the temperature feels like –- was closer to 100.
Tim Ritchie walked across the bridge from his home on Wheeling Island to access a cooling shelter in the WesBanco Arena. He said the walk, which normally takes him 15 minutes, took him an hour in the heat. If power outages persist along with high temperatures, his biggest concern is his elderly neighbors.
“Half the island’s pretty much no electric and there’s a lot of people that don’t drive,” Ritchie said. “I mean they offer bus service, but the elderly is not going to hop on the bus and come down here.”
Officials hope additional work crews will help get more people back on the grid quickly, but efforts may be stymied Thursday by even higher temperatures, and the threat of more storms through the afternoon and into the evening.
“We can restore power during a rain event,” Moray said. “The wind is the factor.”
AEP is monitoring the weather, but the company’s meteorologists believe any storms Thursday will not rise to the level of Tuesday’s event.
A man walks across 16th Street under a traffic light with no power in downtown Wheeling. In the background, just one block away, other traffic lights are functional. The June 14 storm left a focused line of destruction across the Wheeling area.A man looks at a tree completely blocking Grandview Street in the Vineyard Hills area of Wheeling. Work began on removing the tree, but was stopped due to the tree lying on a power line.Tuesday’s storm significantly damaged the roof of the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Services Mary Margaret Laipple Professional Building in downtown Wheeling.
Updated on Tuesday, June 14 at 4:10 p.m. Power was restored to Wheeling Hospital just before 4 p.m., according to a representative from WVU Medicine via email. Wheeling Hospital, as well as much of downtown Wheeling, is without power after a strong storm early Tuesday morning caused widespread damage in the Wheeling area.
Updated on Tuesday, June 14 at 4:10 p.m.
Power was restored to Wheeling Hospital just before 4 p.m., according to a representative from WVU Medicine via email.
Wheeling Hospital, as well as much of downtown Wheeling, is without power after a strong storm early Tuesday morning caused widespread damage in the Wheeling area.
Lou Vargo, the Director of the Wheeling–Ohio County Homeland Security and Emergency Management Agency, said a storm came through Ohio County around 1 a.m. with sustained winds of 60-70 miles per hour, and gusts of up to 80 miles per hour.
“The Emergency Operations Center has been activated and the city of Wheeling has declared a state of emergency which we are passing on to West Virginia Emergency Management Division and to the governor in case this becomes a prolonged power outage,” Vargo said.
Vargo estimates as many as 16,000 people are without electricity, including all of downtown Wheeling and Wheeling Hospital. He said the hospital has been on generator power since 1 a.m.
In an email, a WVU Medicine spokesperson confirmed that the hospital has had to suspend service in some areas.
“No surgeries are being performed. The public pharmacy and cafeteria are closed. The hospital is on full diversion for trauma, heart attacks, and maternity care,” the email said.
WVU Medicine went on to clarify that all inpatients are still receiving quality care and there has been no disruption in their service.
“Luckily we did not receive any flash flooding from the rains because our creeks are well below,” Vargo said. “But we did sustain some major damage from the winds. We have trees and powerlines down throughout the county.”
According to councilwoman Rosemary Ketchum, reported damage included government and community buildings.
“Our DHHR had the roof partially blown off,” she said. “There was a fire related to a downed power line in our Centre Market.”
With power out to so much of the city, including traffic lights, Vargo is warning citizens to limit travel to necessities and to treat all intersections as four-way stops.
“Even our first responders coming into work this morning, they had to go different routes because a tree was down,” Vargo said. “They would try an alternate route, a tree was out there.”
Heat is another concern if the power outage continues into tomorrow.
According to the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), temperatures are expected to rise into the high 90s Wednesday, with the potential for a heat index of 105 degrees. As defined by NOAA, heat index is what the temperature feels like to the human body when relative humidity is combined with the air temperature.
“That’s been the big topic of discussion because when you need to open the heat shelters you’re looking for cool places with air conditioning, but as I said most of the downtown area and most of the city is without power,” Vargo said. “We do have a contingency plan. There are areas in the city that do have power like South Wheeling.”
A strong winter storm is forecast to hit West Virginia Sunday into Monday. In response, Gov.Jim Justice today declared a State of Preparedness for all 55 counties.
The declaration directs the State Emergency Operations Center and its partner agencies to prepare to respond to the storm. This gets personnel and resources ready to respond quickly if an emergency develops.
To assist emergency management officials tracking the storm’s path, the National Weather Service will hold daily briefings for state agencies and local partners.
Coordinating agencies are on standby to report to the State Emergency Operations Center at the West Virginia Emergency Management Division (EMD) should the need arise.
To assist emergency management officials tracking the storm’s path, the National Weather Service will hold daily briefings for state agencies and local partners, and EMD liaisons will provide updates from each county.
The EMD Watch Center has increased staffing through the weekend to perform around-the-clock monitoring of the weather system and will notify leaders if local emergency management agencies request assistance.
“EMD monitors for any events that may threaten the citizens of West Virginia, including severe weather threats,” said EMD Director GE McCabe. “We’re prepared at all times to respond should there be an emergency.”
Justice asks all West Virginians to watch weather conditions and follow instructions issued by emergency officials.
West Virginia’s congressional delegation is urging President Donald Trump to approve Gov. Jim Justice’s request for a federal disaster declaration for severe storms in the state in February.
U.S. Sens. Joe Manchin and Shelley Moore Capito and Congressmen David McKinley, Alex Mooney and Evan Jenkins wrote to Trump on Wednesday.
The letter says Justice submitted a letter last week requesting public assistance for 21 of the state’s 55 counties and for hazard mitigation for the entire state.
The letter says severe storms on Feb. 14 and Feb. 20 caused flooding, mudslides and wind damage in the state.
The counties included in the request for public assistance are Brooke, Cabell, Calhoun, Doddridge, Hancock, Harrison, Lincoln, Logan, Marshall, Mason, Monongalia, Ohio, Pleasants, Preston, Ritchie, Taylor, Tyler, Wayne, Wetzel, Wirt, and Wood.
