BECKLEY, W.Va. — Unlike most natural disasters West Virginia’s Natural Resources Police had plenty of time to plan and react to the most recent high water event in southern West Virginia.
“We knew we were going to get flooded somewhere, but we didn’t know exactly where. But we were prepared enough that when I left for work on Saturday morning I had a trailer hooked up to my vehicle with a boat knowing we would be deployed somewhere,” said Sgt. Dennis Feazell of the West Virginia Natural Resources Police.
All DNR law enforcement members are specifically trained in swift water rescue to some degree as part of their day to day duties.
PHOTO: NRPO Association
“We regulate the commercial whitewater industry, so we’ve always had a swiftwater rescue team. But with the rise in non-motorized watercraft like kayaks, we made a decision a couple of years ago to train all of our guys in swiftwater rescue and that keeps the public safe,” Feazell said.
The training paid off when the rainfall started. Feazell was working in the area of Mercer County around Oakvale and Spanishburg initially.
“The calls started rolling in and we worked all over Mercer County on the first night. We were hearing that McDowell County was getting hammered, but there was just no way to get in there to see if we could help anybody. That was a rough situation,” Feazell said.
Instead by Monday he was redirected to work on Marrowbone Creek in Mingo County.
“In my experience in the first 24 hours we were part of pulling out and rescuing 25 to 30 people just in my little section,” he explained.
Initially those they were helping were in immediate danger. Some were stranded in their vehicles as the water swept them away. Others were in houses where the water was rising and there was no way out.
“Those first eight hours a lot of them were in peril,” said Feazell. “We rescued one man in Oakvale from the back of his truck and it washed away. There were others in Spanishburg where I was working whose homes were filled up with water.”
Overall, Governor Patrick Morrisey noted in Friday’s media briefing first responders, which included Natural Resources Police, pulled more than 130 people out of harms way in which their homes or vehicles had become surrounded by water.