CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The West Virginia Division of Highways is trying to keep up with problems associated with weekend rainfall and wind damage. The storms have left soil saturated and caused numerous mud slides across the state.
“Those are just popping up all over the place,” said Jacob Bumgarner, Director of Maintenance for the Division of Highways. “When you have this much saturation of the soil, we end up cleaning up those kinds of things all over the state.”
The most significant slide is in Mercer County near the community of Ingleside.
“There’s a pretty good slide on Route 112,” Bumgarner said. “It’s taken out the road and pushed all the way down to the railroad.”
The slide there also pushed a house off its foundation and put it beside the railroad. The slide is several hundred feet in length and will leave the road closed for several days as crews work to clean up.
The other issue crews are dealing with is flooded roadways. Several are still underwater and will need to be inspected as the water recedes. Bumgarner indicated that wasn’t anything new for the agency.
“In most cases its normal spring flooding where if the creeks rise quickly it gets over the roadway in a few areas here and there,” he explained.