CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Gov. Jim Justice placed six counties until a State of Emergency Thursday after flooding that occurred earlier this week.
Justice also announced the deployment of 14 members of the West Virginia National Guard to southeastern Kentucky to help rescue efforts associated with devastating flooding.
The Guard said members from its Company C, 2-104th General Support Aviation Battalion (MEDEVAC) and Company B, 1-224th Security and Support Aviation Battalion located in Williamstown will use two UH-60M Blackhawks and two UH-72 Lakota aircraft with hoist capability to help Kentucky authorities with evacuations of trapped residents along with search and rescue efforts.
Some areas of southeastern Kentucky picked up more than 10 inches of rain in a 24-hour period.
“The mission of the National Guard is to be ready at a moment’s notice to help our citizens in need and right now, our neighbors in Kentucky need our help,” state Adjutant General “Bill” Crane said in a news release from the governor’s office. “Upon the direction of Governor Justice, our aircraft and crews with specialized hoist capability and medical evacuation training will be deployed to Kentucky to help save lives and assist their comrades-in-arms from the Kentucky National Guard. Our men and women are proud to answer this call.”
Crane told MetroNews the Williamstown-based crew deployed within two hours of getting the call Thursday. Crane said the crew is ready for this type of emergency.
“There’s a lot of training that goes into that. You don’t want to put someone in a worse situation if you don’t know what you’re doing but our guys are well-trained and I know they’ll be really helpful,” Crane said.
MORE flood threat remains in West Virginia
Justice’s state of emergency declaration includes Fayette, Greenbrier, Logan, McDowell, Mingo, and Wyoming counties. The declaration removes certain restrictions to allow for a full response to damage caused by high water including road damage, downed trees and power outages.
“We were prepared for this. We knew that these rains were coming and that our people were going to have to be super, super careful,” Justice said. “We reached out to emergency management officials across the state this morning and determined that we had several counties in need of this emergency declaration, but we’re just thankful that it wasn’t worse. Very luckily, we have not yet seen any major life-threatening impacts from these storms.”
Justice urged state residents to remain alert with additional rain in the forecast through Friday.