FOLLANSBEE, W.Va. — The town of Follansbee in Brooke County is almost back to normal after a massive flash flood July 30.
“There were 30 businesses with heavy damage. We have 120 houses that are effected, but in FEMA’s eyes the 120 houses are minor damage except for about 10 to 15 of those because the damage was primarily in the basement,” said Brooke County Homeland Security and Emergency Services Director Bob Fowler. “But a lot of those were finished basements and everything in there was destroyed.”
The cloudburst unleashed five inches of rain in 45 minutes over a five square mile area which included the town of Follansbee. The normally small Allegheny Creek became a raging torrent.
“All of that debris flowed down and plugged up those passage ways under a all of those homes and garages,” Fowler explained. “That’s what caused the water to back up and flow down Virginia Avenue.”
Today the town’s streets are clear of mud and the last debris removal is set for Monday. Residents, with the help of hundreds of volunteers, have cleaned up their property and are repairing the damage. The town is assessing expenses in hopes of at least some public assistance aid from FEMA.
“We’re working on trying to see if we have enough costs to the city to get a P-A , a Public Assistance Declaration,” said Fowler. “We’re working to try and see if we can put together enough dollars for that.”
The event was rare, but Fowler said because of the underground routing of the creek he feared it would happen someday under the right conditions. Fowler added he had previously identified eight other trouble spots in the county which could create the same level of problems if a hard enough rain fell in a short span of time. He indicated he had no luck to this point winning any support from state or federal agencies to fund efforts to eliminate those potential drainage problems.