LOST CREEK, W.Va. — City crews with the town of Lost Creek in Harrison County have a busy couple of days ahead. Mayor Dave Oliverio has them working to remove debris from around town leftover by two hard deluges of rain on Wednesday.
“It went over some of the roads and cleared out some brush folks had laying around. We also lost some trees, but that was about it. We were pretty lucky around Lost Creek from what came down from Johnstown,” said Mayor Oliverio.
Oliverio said the first storm hit about mid-morning and drove water out of Lost Creek and some of the feeder streams which pass through the community out of their banks. Fortunately the storm passed and the water quickly receded back into the banks. However, a second similar storm sprung up later in the day and the result was nearly identical.
“It cleared up for a little while and thank goodness for that because if not Lost Creek would have found itself under water. The second round hit about 4:00 to 4:30 and it came again with the same thing,” he explained.
A little further down I-79, the town of Jane Lew shutdown the town’s park until further notice.
“We had a brand new regulation size basketball court that we had just completed a few months ago and it totally removed the tiles. Some of them are completely gone, they floated downstream and some of them just buckled,” said Town Recorder Debbie West.
West said other parts of the park including playground equipment and the walking trail incurred damage from the high water. The park building, which is often rented out for events, had significant damage as well.
“All the mulch has washed out of the adult fitness area. Our park building has received water and its into the appliances and everything in there that we will probably have to replace,” she said.
West did confirm the town has insurance and has already been in contact with the adjustor.
The National Weather Service forecasts the towns will have time to dry out and clean up. The forecast through the middle of next week is for sunny skies and mild temperatures with no chance of rain.