CHARLESTON, W.Va. — -State Transportation Secretary Todd Rumbaugh remembers the night of June 23, 2016 well.
He said after rain for several hours reports started to come in about water pouring onto Interstate 79 not far from the Elkview exit in Kanawha County.
Rumbaugh said they were going to have to close the interstate.
“It was unsafe because of the amount of water that flowing across the interstate and so that was the first part that came around and brought notice of what was going on and after that it kept growing and growing in size and scale,” Rumbaugh remembered this week.
It cost close to $60 million to replace the roads and bridges damaged or wiped out from the high water in parts of 17 counties.
Rumbaugh said in some places the damage was so severe they couldn’t tell a road was ever there.
“There was no trace of where the road had been, where the bridges had been, everything was gone, so we were having to go back and rebuild these roads and bridges in the best way possible,” Rumbaugh said.
The flood impacted more than 600 roads in the flood zone. The water destroyed nine state-owned bridges. Kanawha, Clay and Greenbrier counties recorded the most damage to the transportation system.
Rumbaugh, whose job back then involved construction contracts, said jobs took weeks, others months, while others took a year and a half or up to three years to complete. He said an early key was being able to use the emergency status to enter into contracts with contractors without going out to bid.
“If it was for industry being able to jump in and us being able do that, it would have taken a lot longer to get this type of work done,” he said. “I can truly say everyone came together and worked together.”
FEMA covered more than $34 million in infrastructure and road damage while the federal Highway Administration covered another $21 million.