CHARLESTON, W.Va. — It’s been seven years since the day 12 West Virginia counties endured one of the worst natural disasters in the history of West Virginia.
A storm system set up in a line and trained rainfall constantly over a 24 hour period from Ravenswood on the Ohio River in a narrow, diagonal band across the map all the way to Greenbrier County. The rain started early on June 23, 2016 and by the end of the day, homes were floating away along that narrow band.
The storm would eventually claim the lives of 23 West Virginia residents.
Thousands of homes and hundreds of businesses were destroyed. People were left homeless and helpless. The communities of Clendenin in Kanawha County, Richwood in Nicholas County, Rupert, Rainelle, White Sulphur Springs, and Charmco in Greenbrier County were all heavily impacted. A widespread area of Clay County also made up the bulk of the damage from the storm.
During the aftermath, relief and volunteer help poured into West Virginia from all over the nation. The cleanup took months. The repairs and rebuilding is still ongoing. Clay, Fayette, Greenbrier, Jackson, Kanawha, Lincoln, Monroe, Nicholas, Pocahontas, Roane, Summers, and Webster counties would all eventually be declared federal disaster areas.
This fall, the new Herbert Hoover High School will open giving students in the Elk River community of Kanawha County their first classes outside of portables since the flood hit. Construction continues on an elementary school in the same area. Work to replace Richwood Middle and High Schools has just been initiated in Nicholas County and will take several more years.