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BERWIND, W.Va. — Cleanup is underway for a number of residents in the McDowell County communities off Berwind and Hartwell. A deluge of rain overnight sent streams surging out of their banks and several homes were impacted.
“We believe it came in from the Virginia side. They got hit pretty hard on the Dry Fork and the Dry Fork River comes into McDowell County and that’s where all our water came from,” said McDowell County Sheriff’s Department Chief Deputy James Muncy.
The situation became critical around 10 p.m. Thursday, but by daylight Monday most of the water had receded.
“There is some in houses and then we’ve have a couple of residences where they are stranded because a bridge washed out. We had one man who had to be rescued out of his house,” Muncy said.
Nobody was injured. Muncy described the damage as significant particularly to roads and a couple of bridges in the two communities. The water also rose into the living quarters of several homes. Muncy did not have an exact count on the number of homes impacted by the water.
“We have one that looks like it was washed off the foundation, but I don’t know about any more,” he said.
The state Department of Homeland Security has dispatched officials to the area today to assist with the cleanup and recovery efforts.