TRIADELPHIA, W.Va. — One of the victims of the Father’s Day flood in Ohio County was Travis Creighton of Triadelphia. According to his father, the 19-year old Eagle Scout died while saving his mother in the rising water.
“I forgot my phone and that’s the one thing that haunts me was I couldn’t have warned them even if I had known,” said Brian Creighton in a phone conversation with MetroNews.
Brian had left his home briefly late Saturday night as a torrential downpour was happening. The standard practice in his neighborhood is to move your car to higher ground in such a cloudburst for fear it could wind up getting flooded. By the time Brian had moved his vehicle he was unable to get back down the street to his home because of the rising water. He was stranded on the Route 40 side of Wheeling Creek.
“I was out on 40 and I saw cars going by and cargo containers. I was finally able to find my other son down at my mother-in-law’s house, I asked him where my wife and Travis were and he said he didn’t know. I asked him about the house and he said, ‘There is no house.’ I flew into a panic,” related Creighton in recalling his experience.
He contacted police, fire, EMS, and anyone he could to find try and learn what had happened to his home and more importantly his wife and son. The reality was tragic. Brian learned his home had washed off the foundation and broken apart with his wife Donna and son Travis inside.
“My wife and my son ended up in the creek and held on together for some time and then they got separated. The last words he said to her were, ‘Swim Mommy Swim,” said Creighton as he and his wife both choked back tears.
Donna Creighton was found five miles downstream, alive, and was able to get herself to shore. She survived, but Travis perished in the high water. His body was located later and positively identified.
The 19-year old had just completed his high school equivalency a few weeks ago. According to his father, he had suffered a broken back and two broken legs a few years ago which set back his academic progress. It forced him to go the GED route, which is something Brian said he had resisted at first.
“I told him I respect you as a man, but I’m telling you as my son, you’re going to do this. Once he got it he came to me and thanked me for forcing him to do it,” Creighton said.
Last November Travis received his Eagle Scout Badge, completing a lifelong membership in the Boy Scouts of America. Travis and his brother were both Eagle Scouts and both started the scouting process in the Tiger Cub rank around age five. Creighton said he and others recognized high qualities early in his son and he wasn’t surprised at Travis’ efforts to help save his mother. It’s something he would have done for anyone.
“He’s the most selfless individual I’ve ever met,” he said.
The family has established a Go-Fund Me Page to help with expenses. Brian hoped people would donate to the fund since he and his wife have lost literally everything.
“We have nothing, it’s all just gone. He’s gone, the house is gone and we want to give him a proper burial,” he said.
You can link to the page here.