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Former Preston reporter on ’85 flood: That river was nothing like anybody ever knew it.

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — The day began early for residents of Preston County November 4, 1985 including for WFSP radio reporter Phil Schenk.

At 3 a.m., the county’s emergency services director advised him of flooding on his own road, Salt Lick, between Terra Alta and Rowlesburg.

What the daylight revealed was more than streams overflowing their banks. Rainfall at 3 to 6 inches over 12 hours set the massive Cheat River running through Rowlesburg and Albright into a destructive force hard to comprehend.

Schenk tells of riding with National Guardsmen in helicopters assessing the destruction.

“I’ll never forget the chopper rising up so that we could then look down on the Cheat. It was just breathtaking,” the former journalist recalled. “I can’t describe what it looked like. That river was nothing like anybody ever knew it.”

As railroad bridges, homes and buses were swept away, Schenk found himself as close as he could get to rescue missions.

He distinctly recalled two people close to being overcome by the raging water in the area of Wolf Run.

“I watched them as one of the rescuers was lowered on a rope, grabbed the boy out of the tree and got him into the helicopter, came back down; put a rope around the man. They just pulled him out. He was just dangling at the end of the rope as a chopper came across the river,” Schenk explained.

Amateurs and professionals captured photographic images of stranded residents whose houses were filled with water up to second stories.

‘Just this astounding picture in my mind of the National Guards people putting that helicopter down on one rail on the roof of this porch and reaching in to get these kids out and putting them in the helicopter, described Schenk. “And, off they went. Quite amazing.”

What Schenk was seeing first-hand was not unique. Towns along the Cheat were being changed forever.

“The radio station got through to emergency services to Parsons. I’ll never forget that guy, his voice. He was just in panic. He said Parsons is underwater. He started reeling off names of towns. This place is under water, that place is under water.”

In some cases, the winding riverside roads connection communities were ripped out. It took months to reopen them.





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