Virginia: Record flooding in West Virginia killed at least 23 people, stranded thousands, left thousands more without utilities, and washed away houses, roads and vehicles after a band of thunderstorms battered the region Thursday.
With boats, helicopters and ropes, firefighters, law enforcement officers and National Guard troops rescued people from roofs of flooded houses, cars and trucks, and from mounds that had become temporary islands. Freight barges on the Kanawha River broke loose and slammed into bridges just west of Charleston, forcing them to close until inspectors determined that they were undamaged.
More than 500 people were stranded and spent the night at the Elkview Crossings Mall, northeast of Charleston, because the roads leading there were among more than 60 washed out around the state. Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin ordered emergency construction of a temporary road to reach the site. In White Sulphur Springs, a house caught fire as it was ripped from its moorings, and it drifted like a floating torch down a creek.
At least 23 people were killed, the State Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management said. In addition, 100 homes were known to be badly damaged or destroyed, Tomblin said Friday after declaring a state of emergency in 44 of West Virginia’s 55 counties. The victims included an 8-year-old boy and a 4-year-old boy, both carried off by fast-moving torrents where there would usually be shallow creeks.
“It’s been a long 24 hours, and the next 24 hours may not be easier,” Tomblin said. “There will be an enormous amount of recovery work.”
In Virginia, Gov. Terry McAuliffe made an emergency declaration for Alleghany County and the city of Covington.
With roads impassable and rivers still near record highs in West Virginia, local officials said they did not know what the toll in death and destruction would ultimately be.
“I’m afraid that will go higher; some of the hardest-hit areas are areas that we can’t get into,” said Kent Carper, the president of the Kanawha County Commission. “How many homes have been destroyed, nobody knows. We have not even started the property assessment.”
“I have seen bad flooding in West Virginia, but not like this,” he said. “It’s devastation, just devastation.”
Most of West Virginia and parts of western Virginia received 1 to 3 inches of rain in a few hours on Thursday afternoon and evening, but the downpour was far more intense in some places. Parts of Greenbrier County, a sparsely populated area bordering Virginia, got 8 to 10 inches of rain, the National Weather Service reported.
The mountainous terrain funnelled that water into rivers that quickly overflowed their banks. The Elk River at Queen Shoals crested Friday morning more than 14 feet above flood stage, the highest recorded. The Greenbrier River at Hilldale crested more than 19 feet above flood stage, the highest since the 19th century.
The Greenbrier Sporting Club is scheduled to host its annual PGA Tour event starting July 7, but much of the famed golf course was underwater Thursday and Friday. Calls to the club were not answered.
As of Friday afternoon, Tomblin said, 66,000 customers in West Virginia were without electricity, and thousands had no gas, water or phone service.
