BARBOUR COUNTY, W.Va. — A Barbour County mayor had his fingers crossed on Tuesday morning in hopes that water levels on the Tygart Valley River would not climb much higher in his city.
“Right now, we’re just watching the river level,” reported Belington Mayor Matt Ryan around 9:30 a.m. Tuesday.
As of Tuesday morning, Belington was one of several regions in West Virginia that remained under Flood Warnings from the National Weather Service after heavy rain to start the week.
A Flood Warning was posted for Belington until Tuesday afternoon at least.
As of 1:30 a.m. Tuesday, meteorologists reported the Tygart Valley River was at 16.5 feet in Belington and was expected to crest later Tuesday at close to 17.4 feet.
“Usually at 17 feet is when it starts backing up through storm drains and actually coming into town,” Ryan said.
His measurements indicated the river level had climbed by more than a foot from Monday night through Tuesday morning.
Flood Stage in Belington is 14 feet.
Forecasters said the Tygart Valley River could drop below that flood stage by Tuesday night.
The highest previous crest there was 15.9 feet on March 12, 2015.
“Since (the Flood of) 1985, this is probably been one of the worst that we’ve dealt with,” Ryan said.
As a precaution, the Division of Highways closed the main bridge on Belington’s Brown Avenue early Tuesday morning.
“The water has reached the bottom of the bridge and it’s actually touching the bridge,” Ryan said at that time.
“The bridge itself is kind of acting like a dam right now.”
On Tuesday morning, Ryan said about six Belington streets were closed for high water and there was water in at least one business. He said he was not anticipating, though, having to call for any home evacuations in Belington.
Also in Barbour County, the Tygart Valley River was forecasted to crest in Philippi at 19.7 feet on Tuesday — right above the Flood Stage of 19 feet.
The Tygart Valley River’s largest tributary is the Buckhannon River. A Flood Warning along the Buckhannon River at Buckhannon was lifted on Tuesday morning.