This weekend, deadly flash floods struck Wheeling and the surrounding areas in West Virginia, resulting in the deaths of at least four people and the disappearance of others.
When West Virginia Governor Patrick Morrisey disclosed the deaths that occurred as a result of the flooding event that took place on Sunday, he delivered a sorrowful update on Facebook using the platform.
According to Morrisey, the floods resulted in the deaths of at least four persons, one of them was a kid of three years old.
In less than an hour, about three to four inches of water dropped in the area. Morrisey praised the first responders who were trying to reach victims in the flooding and stated, “That’s very, very difficult to deal with.”
Four people are still unaccounted for, he added. Officials are asking people to avoid the roadways while first responders continue to search for the missing.
As soon as the rain started on Saturday, 911 cries for assistance came in, and some individuals had to cling to trees to avoid being washed away by the swift-moving floodwaters, according to Lou Vargo, director of the Wheeling-Ohio County Emergency Management Agency.
The rain flooded rivers and streams, bringing water pouring into communities, prompting the National Weather Service office in Pittsburgh to declare a rare Flash Flood Emergency and numerous Flash Flood Warnings late Saturday night and early Sunday morning.
Vargo added that cadaver dogs and drones are being used to look for the missing.
“We’re also working with family members to see if they just were displaced,” Vargo stated. “We also have a mass-care center set up for the people that we’ve evacuated from parts of the Valley Grove and Tridelphia area.”
In certain cases, emergency personnel were unable to respond because to the damage to infrastructure, such as roads and bridges.
“We were delayed in getting there because there was just so much damage,” Vargo stated during a press briefing.
In addition, locals have been urged to avoid the area for their own safety and to give emergency responders more time to carry out their valiant victim hunt.
“We just plead for you to stay away from that area and let the first responders and the Department of Highways and all the services out there do our jobs so we can get citizens back into their homes as quickly as possible.”
Although there have been thousands of reported power outages, efforts to restore service cannot start until the area’s alleged natural gas leaks have been fixed.
“Some of those houses could be in an explosive situation, so turning the power on could cause an explosion,” Vargo added. “So, the power company and the gas company are working very closely together to coordinate everything.”
Flash flooding and extreme weather continued to cause devastation on Father’s Day as recovery and cleanup efforts got underway in some areas of West Virginia.
Multiple Flash Flood Warnings were issued for areas of West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Ohio, and Kentucky on Sunday afternoon.
The National Weather Service said that between 1.5 and 3 inches of rain had fallen in a short period of time, prompting the community of Fairmont, West Virginia, to be placed under a Flash Flood Emergency.
Read Also: Alaska Issues First-Ever Heat Advisory as Temperatures Spike in Fairbanks
Water has allegedly invaded structures in Fairmont, and local police officials recorded multiple water rescues.
When the governor declared an emergency for Marion County on Sunday night, he verified that a Fairmont apartment complex had partially collapsed.
“As flash floods continue throughout North Central West Virginia, emergency officials are on the scene in Marion County at a partial apartment collapse,” Morrisey stated. “State resources are being dispatched to the region immediately. Please — stay off the roads. Do not underestimate the strength and speed of these floods. Pray for our friends and neighbors during this challenging time for our state.”
Along the Virginia-North Carolina border, where 1-3 inches of rain are probable with locally higher amounts, and south of the Interstate 64 corridor from West Virginia to Virginia, a slow-moving cold front will also drift to the south, concentrating the heaviest rainfall.
West Virginia, Virginia, and North Carolina will be at the highest risk of flash flooding; NOAA’s Weather Prediction Center has classified parts of southeast Virginia and northeastern North Carolina as having a Level 3 out of 4 flood hazard.
