CLENDENIN, W.Va. — It was almost a year ago, the morning of June 24, 2016, when Wanda and Bo Waldon woke up in their Clendenin home and walked downstairs to find their first floor with the Elk River running through it.
It had been raining the night before but, “We never heard anything. When we came down to make coffee the next morning, it (the floodwater) was way above our waist and couches and chairs were turned over backwards,” Wanda Waldon said.
“It wasn’t a rushing water, it was a rising water.”
This week’s 1st anniversary of the June 2016 Flood in West Virginia comes 23 days after the Waldons were able to move back into their renovated home, along with Bo’s mother, age 93.
For the past 11 months, they’d been living at a relative’s furnished home in Dunbar while traveling to Clendenin to work to repair their own home.
Their return to Clendenin is one they credit to the work of more than 100 volunteers, many who simply showed up at their home to offer assistance, and Mountain Mission’s HOPE Project, one of several relief efforts the organization oversaw in the flood’s aftermath.
The HOPE Project, standing for Helping Our People Along the Elk, was created through Mountain Mission in partnership with Cornerstone Interiors, Inc., Hands on West Virginia and Lowe’s of Kanawha City.
In all, more than $440,000 was raised to provide building supplies for more than 230 families, according to John Roberts, executive director of Mountain Mission. With additional help from Lowe’s, the donations totaled $1 million in supplies.
At this point, Roberts said almost all of the money raised has been spent and the HOPE Project is scheduled to wrap up in July.
“Between the long-term committees, the HOPE Project and other varieties of different organizations, I’m really proud of what, not just Kanawha County, but we have accomplished statewide in helping these families recover,” he said.
Twelve months later, though, there are still housing needs.
“Most of the families have really done well to recover in the homes that were repairable,” Roberts said. “However, there are some new builds going on where the homes were either totally demolished or they cannot build back in that particular place due to the floodplain.”
Bo Waldon, Wanda’s husband, said the destruction was unbelievable.
“You just feel like you’re just overwhelmed so much you don’t know where to start because everything is just a mess,” he said.
In the flood, the Waldon’s basement was filled and water was 36 inches into the first floor sending all of the furniture floating. “This house will be 100 years old in 2018 and it had never, never had water in it before,” said Wanda Waldon.
Today, the furniture has been replaced, lace curtains hang in the windows, tea sets are set out, new flooring is down and, during a visit from MetroNews this week, Waldon was baking peanut butter and chocolate chip cookies in her spotless kitchen with white countertops.
“The most that they gave us was hope,” Wanda Waldon said of the HOPE Project. After an initial wave of volunteers finished the gutting of their home and left, “That’s when Mountain Mission’s Project HOPE kicked in,” she said.
Donated were insulation, drywall, drywall mud, tape, screws, paint primer for the walls and kitchen cabinets.
“The people that gave to Project HOPE, they need to know how much it is appreciated. We wouldn’t be here. We wouldn’t be in this house. We wouldn’t be back home if it wasn’t for Project HOPE,” she said.
“We used everything (that was donated) and it saved our life. It allowed us to come back. It made a big difference.”
Though the Waldons are back home, their neighborhood is forever changed. Most of the homes where her neighbors used to live are destroyed and slated for demolition and, every time it rains, they worry.
“You have that funny little tingle go up the back of your neck wondering if it’s going to stop,” admitted Bo Waldon.
The two thought briefly about moving, “But this is home,” Wanda Waldon said. “We never knew how strong we were until being strong was our only choice, was all we had.”