WELCH, W.Va. — Emergency crews in McDowell County are scrambling to get a handle on rising water across the county. The first reports came early in the western end of the county along the Tug Fork River and Elkhorn Creek. Overnight rainfall pushed those waters out of their banks in low lying areas and more rain is in the forecast.
“We have water issues countywide, the worse areas on the western side of the county in Panther, Bradshaw, Berwind, Coalwood, and Anawalt,” said McDowell County Deputy Director of Emergency Services Angela Workman.
The McDowell County Commission declared local state of emergency and teams of first responders were in the field. Workman confirmed some homes lying along those streams have been impacted by flood water, but so far there had been no indication of the number of homes involved.
“We’re just getting phone calls to 9-1-1 and trying to get people out into the field,” she said.
As of 11 a.m. there had been no calls for emergency evacuation or swift water rescue.
The state Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management was also ramping up a response.
“We have done a partial activation of our emergency operations center. We’ve joined together the primaries at this stage of any weather disaster like the National Weather Service, Department of Highways, the Red Cross and VOADD, to monitor exactly what’s going on,” said Secretary Michael Todorovich.
Todorovich indicated he has dispatched liaisons from his office to McDowell County and neighboring counties to monitor and assist when and if the situation warrants. Chances are things will get worse before they improve.
“They’re expecting in that area up to an inch and a half more rain,” Todorovich said.
The National Weather Service Thursday morning upgraded a flood watch to a flood warning in McDowell, Mingo, Raleigh, and Wyoming Counties. Students in some counties were sent home early.
In Wyoming County Emergency Management Director Dean Meadows said so far the only problems the experienced were nuisance flooding, areas which typically flood in a heavy rain. He was more worried about the rising Guyandotte River.
“Our river gauge is showing us we could reach ‘action stage’ and that’s going to be after dark this evening. So, the low lying areas of the Guyandotte have us concerned and we’re watching that gauge and those low lying areas because after dark it could be a real issue if the river should leave its banks,” Meadows said.