It’s been two weeks since the historic Flood of 2016 and my daily commentary has been exclusively about the flood (except for a traditional Independence Day story). I’ve thought many times of writing about something else, but I haven’t been able to.
A few other subjects have come to mind, but none rise to the level—at least not yet—of the flood and its impact. The stories just keep coming, especially as our reporters have gotten father out into the flood zone.
White Sulphur Springs, Clendenin, Rainelle, Richwood and Clay were among the hardest hit towns, and they appropriately have drawn the most attention, but there are many smaller communities where the devastation has been just as severe and the need is just as great.
When you get to Rupert, which was also flooded, folks there send you up Anjean Road where the damage was the worst. Brownsville, Belva, Camden on Gauley were among the small towns along the Gauley River that flooded out.
Outside Clendenin, the Jordan Creek and Wills Creek areas suffered some of the worst damage in the Elk River watershed, but way upriver the towns of Procious, Hartland and Bergoo were also flooded.
The little town of Caldwell suffered heavy damage and U.S. Route 60, that runs through the community, was washed out. Queen Shoals in Clay County was flooded, but then you head up the hollow on Valley View Road and you will see some of the worst damage.
Nallen and Russellville were flooded by the Meadow River. The list goes on, and the farther you venture out into those 10 to 12 counties, the more places you find that were ravaged by the raging waters. Many of the folks we talked with told the same story: “The water came up so fast,” and “We’ve never seen the water this high before.”
Every time I feel myself getting weary of the flood story, I get a sharp pang of guilt. Whatever weariness I have of the story is barely a fraction of the fatigue felt by folks directly impacted who are trying to clean up and push on.
Their stories need to be told. They don’t end just because we tire of them or get distracted by something else. Yes, life does go on, but for many of our fellow citizens the way forward is now far more challenging. Many of these folks faced economic and personal hardship even before the flood.
West Virginia is now intoxicated by a powerful spirit of goodwill that has produced an outpouring of support as historic as the flood itself. The challenge is to sustain that altruistic resolve to help our neighbors, even as the stories inevitably begin to fade.