Historic floods sweep West Virginia

At least 23 dead as historic floods sweep West Virginia

Posted on June 25, 2016 by The Extinction Protocol

June 2016 – WEST VIRGINIA – At least 23 people, including an 8-year-old boy who was wading in a foot of water, died in massive floods in West Virginia from a storm system that has dumped a historic amount of rain in parts of the state, state officials said Friday. As much as 8-10 inches of rain fell in six to eight hours in parts of West Virginia, the National Weather Service said. This amount of rain in such a short time is likely a “one-in-a-thousand-year event,” the weather service said.
It was the third-deadliest flood on record in West Virginia, according to the West Virginia state climatologist Kevin Law. Only the Buffalo Creek flood in 1972 (when 125 died after a dam break) and a November 1985 flood (when 38 died from a combination of Hurricane Juan’s remnants and another storm) killed more in the state, Law said. Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin told reporters Friday that damage is widespread and devastating. Saying search and rescue missions are still a top priority, Tomblin issued a state of emergency for 44 counties and deployed 150 members of the National Guard to help emergency responders.
The flooding was “among the worst in a century” for some parts of West Virginia, ABC News quoted the governor as saying. Tomblin’s chief of staff, Chris Stadelman, said 14 deaths had been confirmed by the state medical examiner. But local sheriffs and rescue workers across the state confirmed others not yet included in the state’s official tally, the Associated Press reported. Sheriff Jan Cahill of Greenbrier county, one of the hardest hit areas, said at least 13 were killed there. Three were killed in Kanawha County and one each in Ohio and Jackson counties.




The body of   Emanual Williams, 8, was recovered in Big Wheeling Creek in the Elm Grove area of Wheeling, The Wheeling Intelligencer reported. The newspaper said the boy was walking with his sister and mother in a foot of water in the creek when he slipped and was carried away by strong currents. One of the 500 people stranded overnight at a shopping mall said rescuers used a rope to help him and others down a steep slope behind the Crossings Mall in Elkview, about 12 miles from Charleston. Eric Blackshire, who is 48, said that he decided to get a hotel room at the mall on Thursday because a rock slide had blocked his way home to Walton. Then the bridge to the mall washed out during heavy rainfall, stranding people there overnight.
In Nicholas County, much of the town of Richwood was inundated by high water from the Cherry River, forcing the relocation of a nursing home. In nearby Greenbrier County, the grounds of the 238-year-old Greenbrier Resort, a National Historic Landmark, were partially flooded by water from Howard’s Creek. The heavy rains and rising water swamped towns, inundated a two-century old resort and trapped 500 people in a shopping center when a bridge was washed out. The storm also knocked out power to 66,000 West Virginians, and forced the shut off of gas in the town of White Sulphur Springs, Tomblin said.
The governor said 60 roads were closed, many of them destroyed, bridges were knocked out,  and homes were burned down and washed off foundations. He said water rescue teams searched devastated areas looking for possible victims. “It’s been a long 24 hours, and the next 24 hours may not be any easier,” the governor said. Greenbrier County Sheriff Jan Cahill described “complete chaos” in his county from the flooding, according to the Associated Press.  –USA Today

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14 dead 500 people trapped 500,000 without power as deadly floods hit West Virginia

Photo abcnews.go.com
At least 14 people, including an eight-year-old boy and a toddler, have died in flooding in West Virginia, according to the state governor.
Heavy storms and flooding have caused widespread damage throughout the state, said Governor Earl Ray Tomblin reports the BBC.
A state of emergency was declared in 44 of the state's 55 counties.
Rescue efforts were under way for about 500 people trapped in a shopping centre while officials continued to search for others stranded in devastated areas.
The flooding has destroyed more than 100 homes and knocked out power for thousands in parts of the state.
14 people were killed, including a toddler, after powerful storms swamped West Virginia on Thursday night, cutting power and plunging hundreds of thousands of people into darkness.
The search for 4-year-old Edward McMillion ended in heartbreak after officials said Friday that they found his body.
The boy had vanished in the rising waters in Ravenswood, Jackson County, which sits along the Ohio River on the Ohio border.


Photo www.cbsnews.com
Three other deaths occurred in Kanawha County, while a another death occurred in Ohio County in West Virginia's northern panhandle, the governor's office said.
Authorities in Greenbrier County announced Friday afternoon that two males were also found dead - bringing the death toll up to seven.
Officials did not immediately identify the victims, although local reports said one of those killed in Ohio County was an 8-year-old who had slipped into a creek and was carried away.
He later died at a hospital, The Intelligencer reported.
Meanwhile, an elderly man was killed in the floodwaters in Kanawha County, while a woman there was washed away in her vehicle in another incident, NBC affiliate WSAZ reported.
In one dramatic scene in White Sulphur Springs in the state's south, where up to 10 inches of rain fell Thursday, the flood waters pushed a burning home down the Howard Creek.
Forty-four counties, primarily in the southeastern part of the state, were under a state of emergency Thursday night because of flood waters, emergency officials said.
Electric utilities reported that almost 500,000 customers were without power.
"We surely need your prayers because there's a lot of people hurting right now," Jim Justice, owner of the luxury Greenbrier Resort, told The Weather Channel.
Kanawha County was especially inundated, and dozens of water rescues were under way in and around Clendenin, where numerous roads were closed by racing flood waters,
WSAZ said.
"There's been a ton of areas that have been hit hard" by as much as 7 inches of rain, said Danielle Banks, a meteorologist for The Weather Channel. Mark Burgess, wife Lisa and parents-in-law Bill and Peggy Lucas were occupying the second floor of their home in Elkview when the waters started rising at around 1:30 am ET.
Mark Burgess told NBC News on Friday morning there was about four feet of water, "but it has stopped going up now."
He said it was the first time that residents have witnessed such flooding.
"My mother-in-law has lived here for 80 years, and this never happened before," he said.
"There is nothing you can do," he added.
"We can call for help if it's too deep, but it's OK right now."




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