CLARKSBURG, W.Va. — The weather was perfect for baseball all weekend, but there won’t be much baseball played at Frank Loria field for the next few weeks.
“100 percent of the field was covered,” Clarksburg City Manager Martin Howe said.
Only eight games had been played on the field, which is used by the Pony League, Salem International University, and Notre Dame High School, since the switch from grass to turf.
“Frank Loria Field has been around for quite some time,” Howe said. “It was a grass field. Just recently, this year, we completed an upgrade to turf, which will be more durable in the long run.”
He said the water is beginning to crest and recede, but a damage assessment can’t be completed until it’s safe for maintenance workers to get to the field.
“What we’ll have to do, regardless, is whether it was turf or grass is go in and remove any debris or mud that was left behind once the waters recede,” he said. “In the case of turf, we’ll have to clean off the turf to get all of the settlement out of the turf prior to usage.”
Howe said, in recent memory, there aren’t really any similar events in Clarksburg to compare to the flooding.
“Frank Loria field itself has not been under water for the last eight to ten years,” he said. “The Elk, as waters rose, rose to a level that we haven’t seen in quite some time.”
He was unable to come up with an initial projection on what the cost to the city might be.
Additionally, several city streets were experiencing high water, including E.B. Saunders Way and Baltimore Avenue.
He said anyone who doesn’t need to be out should remain indoors and should not attempt to drive through those flooded areas.
Parts of Interstate 79 in Lewis County and Harrison County remained shut down Monday afternoon following high water Monday morning.