MIDDLEBOURNE, W.Va. — Although Middle Island Creek in Tyler County crested at a 20 year high on Wednesday, the high water didn’t cause a lot of problems.
“We’ve been fortunate. We’ve not had any calls other than one car got stuck in a water situation and people had to be assisted getting out of it,” said Tyler County Emergency Management Director Tom Cooper.
The long, snaking creek empties into the Ohio River and backed up with a lot of it’s tributaries overflowing on Wednesday when a deluge of rain hit the region. The feeder streams also overflowed, many of them into secondary roads leaving folks stranded in their homes.
“We have some areas isolated by the water,” said Cooper. “They’ve lost their power and their phone in the Indian Creek area so we’re waiting for that to all come back up.”
Flooding along Middle Island Creek is not a surprise, it happens several times a year according to Cooper. However, the banks in many locations are steep and there aren’t a lot of structures which lie in harm’s way along the waterway.
“It’s not common for it to reach that level, but it is common for it to get up and cross the back road two or three times a year,” Cooper said.