CLAY, W.Va. — During the days following the June 2016 flood in West Virginia, Clay County High School represented a cross section of what everybody in the state was enduring. The school played the roles of victim as well as relief site in the aftermath of the disaster.
Sitting only yards from a stream, the school’s basement filled with water all the way to the ceiling. School administrators opened the door to find a catfish in the middle of the football locker room floor. During the days which followed, volunteers shoveled ankle deep mud out of the school basement which for years housed the Clay County football program.
Today, the basement is filled with old desks, exercise equipment, and other various odds and ends being stored away until a home can be found for them.
“There is still a lot of work to be done,” said Assistant Principal Crystal Gibson. “It’s also a place to try and clean things up so it doesn’t have to sit outside.”
Although the floor is now white again, the problems from all of the water persist and there are damages which were never evident until months after the initial cleanup was over.
“We’ve been fighting mold ever since we got started,” said Gibson. “Our local fire department has hosed and we’ve cleaned and bleached and we have humidifiers running trying to keep it down so it doesn’t impact the school.”
One casualty school officials hadn’t expected is the school’s gym floor which sits directly above the flooded basement. A year later the hardwood basketball court is showing the signs of damage.
“Our gym floor is ruining as we speak,” she said. “Between the water and dampness the floor is cupping. We’re hoping to make it through next season by adding expansion joints to keep that to a minimum, but eventually it will have to be replaced.”
While parents and other volunteers worked to repair the back side of the school, the front end became a major hub for distribution of relief supplies. The effort started small a day after the flood and grew into a massive operation. Supplies piled up in the school hallways and according to Gibson, they finally distributed the last of the donated items in December.
“We were the major distribution site for the entire county and we also helped ship things to other counties and other schools in need as well,” she explained. “One side of the driveway was pickup and the other was delivery.”
The organization of the relief effort came on the fly. There was no plan to go by, people pitched in tirelessly to help neighbors in need.
“From young to old. My 10 year old son was out there directing tractor trailers,” she said. “Everyone pitched in and it was a major effort, 16 to 18 hours days, but it was well worth it.”
A year after the flood, Gibson and others in the school are able to chart how far they have come, but realize full recovery from the 2016 event will take a long time to completely overcome.