SISSONVILLE, W.Va. — Roadside pick-up of flood debris in Kanawha County Wednesday gave county emergency officials a good idea of the extent of the damage from the Christmas Day flood.
“There were extremely big piles, a lot of carpet, a lot of clothing, miscellaneous household items, just huge, huge piles of it,” is how Kanawha County Emergency Management Deputy Director C.W. Sigman described it.
County municipalities sent trash crews to the unincorporated areas of Sissonville to pick up the ruined items along Lotus Drive, 2-Mile Road and Falcon Drive. Kanawha 2 Mile creek produced some of the worst flooding on Christmas Day. The water has gone down but their are some homes that are unlivable, according to Sigman.
“Once the water goes down mold can develop and that’s a concern right now,” he said. “I wouldn’t recommend living in it.”
County officials are still compiling damage assessments. Federal disaster assistance appears to be a long shot, Sigman said.
“Never say never,” he said. “We are going to do our assessment and our due diligence and we’re going to go for it.”
The Kanawha 2-Mile Watershed may get some work as a result of the event. Sigman said it needs a closer look at what is causing the flooding.
“Is something backing it up? Is it too narrow of a stream? We just don’t know,” he said. “We’re going to ask the state to look at what we can do to fix that.”