Sunday 26 June 2016

A "one-in-a-thousand-year event": Rivers reach historic highs as federal disaster declared across West Virginia: 24 dead

A federal disaster declaration was approved for three of the hardest-hit counties in flood-ravaged West Virginia after a historic deluge killed at least 24 people there.
The floodwaters swept away cars, cut power to thousands and trapped hundreds in a shopping centre after 10 inches of rain pounded parts of the state in just 24 hours.
It also submerged a golf course, forcing the PGA to cancel the upcoming Greenbrier Classic.
Tour officials announced Saturday that the tournament, scheduled for July 7 through 10, was nixed due to the floods.
"Cancelling The Greenbrier Classic is certainly the most prudent course of action as our foremost concern is the well-being of those who are having to live through this tragic situation," PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem said in a statement.
Meanwhile, officials were still searching Saturday for missing people in Greenbrier County, the area hardest hit by the floods with 16 deaths.
Elsewhere in the state, one person died in Ohio County, another died in Jackson County, and six died in Kanawha County, the West Virginia medical examiner's office said.
The rains - so heavy they were dubbed a "one-in-a-thousand-year event" by the National Weather Service - prompted officials to put 44 out of West Virginia's 55 counties under a state of emergency, primarily in the southeastern part of the state.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency on Saturday granted a request from Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin for assistance for three heavily damaged counties: Kanawha, Greenbrier and Nicholas.
On Friday night, National Guard troops raced to build a temporary roadway in Kanawha County to rescue more than 500 people who had been stuck inside the Elkview Crossings Plaza since Thursday afternoon.


Photo www.nbcnews.com
Crews resumed evacuation efforts Saturday morning for those still inside.
"It's been a long 24 hours. The next 24 hours may not be much easier," Tomblin said Friday afternoon, after authorities spent the day rescuing people off rooftops and whisking them out of their homes as water rose at an alarming speed.
The brutal floods took no mercy on their victims, killing people of all ages.
Among those found dead was 4-year-old Edward McMilllion, who went missing in Ravenswood, Jackson County, along the Ohio River, officials said.
Local reports also said an 8-year-old in Ohio County fell into a creek and later died at a hospital. Meanwhile, in Kanawha County, an elderly man was killed and a woman was swept away in her vehicle, reported NBC affiliate WSAZ.
More than 50 people who had been displaced from their homes were sheltering at Capitol High School in Charleston, officials said.
There were also incredible stories of survival: In Rainelle in Greenbrier County, wheelchair-bound Vietnam War Air Force veteran Karol Dunford, 71, was pulled out of her trailer just in time.
Dunford screamed as the floodwater crept all the way up to her shoulders, The Associated Press reported.


Photo www.cbsnews.com
Rescue teams burst in late Thursday night and saved her, but Dunford lost her wheelchair and home, as well as her pet Chihuahua.
"She got really upset when she realized she doesn't have any underwear, she doesn't have any food, she doesn't have any medicine, she doesn't have anything," her daughter, Randee Suzer, told the AP. "She lives on very modest means.
That trailer was her home.
She didn't have a lot. And she lost it all."
Dunford was taken to a veterans hospital in Beckley for an open wound on her foot, Suzer added. More than 32,000 homes and businesses were still without power across the state Saturday morning, the West Virginia Division of Homeland Security tweeted.
That number was down from a high of nearly 500,000 customers Thursday night.
In White Sulphur Springs in the southern part of the state, natural gas service was turned off after a burning home drifted down a swollen creek.
It was captured on dramatic video.
More than 60 secondary roads were still closed throughout the state as of Saturday, and highways U.S. 60 and U.S. 119 were closed in multiple locations, West Virginia Division of Homeland Security said.
Across the state, rivers reached historic highs Friday.
In Clay County, northeast of Charleston, the Elk River rose to more than 33 feet, breaking the prior record of 32 feet set in 1888, officials said.


Levels of the Elk River at Queen Shoals, West Virginia. Image: NWS...Graph from floodlist.com
The downpour was the result of a "derecho" weather system that led to at least eight confirmed tornadoes Wednesday in Ohio and northern Illinois on Wednesday evening and Thursday morning, according to the NWS.
Derechos are thunderstorms that produce widespread straight-line wind damage and happen most frequently in the late spring and summer, according to Weather.com.
No flash flood warnings were issued for Saturday in West Virginia.



Home Page

Related








At least 79 dead as lightning strikes the Indian states of Bihar, Jharkhand and Madhya Pradesh

If the heat doesn't kill you the rain will: 40 people killed in heavy rains across Uttar Pradesh, India

Mag 7. Quake in April responsible for landslides as devastating floods hit Japan killing 3

20 dead more than 250,000 evacuated and 325,000 hectares of crops damaged as more floods hit China

A months rain in a couple of hours kills 3 and thousands of livestock in Niger: The latest West African country to be devasted by floods

"I never seen rain like this before": Zero visibility in State of Michigan from terrifying micro storm

Heat records shattered as fierce hot spell in the San Diego area hits 118F (48C)

Death toll from flash floods and landslides in Indonesia reaches 46 with dozens still missing

Phoenix-bound flight forced to return to Houston because of 120F (49C) deadly heat: 50 year old heat record shattered!

A months rain in one hour: Australia's East coast under water again after torrential rains

24 dead and 26 missing as torrential rains damage thousands of homes in Indonesia

Almost 50C (120F) is just plain dangerous! Phoenix issues excessive heat warning

Beautiful Roll Cloud Rises Over Lake Michigan

Snow storm hits Hawaii just days before official summer time begins!

Heat Emergency Plan imposed as Houston heat hits 108F (42C)

India burning! Unbearable heat due to the 90% humidity factor as temperatures hit 43.2 degrees Celsius (110F)

"Their Sky Has Changed!" Inuit elders sharing information with NASA regarding Earth's "WOBBLE"

Nuuk warmer than New York as Greenland records it's warmest temperature in June ever!

No comments: