BLUEFIELD, W.Va. — Gov. Jim Justice announced late Tuesday that he has placed Mercer County under a state of emergency as more is learned about damage in the county after it was hit last Friday by the remnants of Helene.
“We’re still learning about reports of serious damage throughout Mercer County, and the estimates are adding up quickly. I’m told there’s a sizable portion of the county still without power, and there were so many downed trees that it’s been difficult to get the full scope of what’s happened,” Justice said. “This State of Emergency will allow us to speed up the response on the ground and potentially receive federal assistance as we push forward with recovery efforts.”
Mercer County Emergency Services Manager Keith Gunnoe said even the Derecho may not have had the level of tree falls they’ve been working with since last Friday.
“Quite honestly, the impacts from this storm has drastically affected Mercer County in ways we’ve never seen before,” Gunnoe said during a Tuesday appearance on MetroNews Talkline. “There’s probably hundreds of trees impacting residential homes and businesses, but definitely the power grid and infrastructure at AEP.”
Curtis French, assistant public works director and city engineer for the City of Bluefield, would agree. He said not since the Derecho has any damage com closed to what he and his crews have been dealing with.
High water was a minor concern in Mercer County, but the rainfall which came ahead of Helene softened the ground and made the strong winds much more destructive.
“At the Mercer County Airport there were several wind gusts reported throughout the day Friday at greater than 55 miles an hour. I suspect looking at the size of some of the trees down in the county we probably had far above that,” said Gunnoe.
The most impacts happened in the city of Bluefield and west of I-77 in the county toward the Wyoming and McDowell County lines. French said the damage was incredible.
“Some broke in half, but in the majority of cases the entire root ball came up out of the ground, ” he explained. “Thirty-inch plus trees are still down. We had to purchase new saws because we didn’t’ have saws large enough to cut these trees up.”
French said 21 homes in Bluefield incurred some level of damage when a tree fell on the structure. Several more vehicles were also damaged or destroyed, including a city truck trying to respond to public safety needs, which were struck by the falling trees a the height of the storm.”
Appalachian Power continues to work on repairs and anticipated residents in the most remote parts of Mercer County may not have power restored until the end of the week.