WHARTON, W.Va. — Sheryl Beard fought back tears as she stood in the driveway of her parents’ home in Wharton while the sun blazed down on a hot July day. Laid out to dry were all of her late father’s prized possessions. His tools, fishing poles, lawn equipment, and various pieces of furniture were caked in a drying film of mud. Inside the garage his motorcycle sat in four inches of mud.
“This is a lot to take, ” said Beard as she surveyed the mess.
She now owns the home after her parents died in recent years. June 22nd as the rain fell, she came by the house to check and saw the water coming up, but it was a helpless feeling because she had her own home to think about and the home of her late grandmother which also lay in harm’s way.
“I had just come up to check and I could see it was coming up pretty fast. I was worried about the house down there, so I hurried up and got out of here and by that time my basement down there had filled up too. I was just watching everything we worked for. It’s just hard to take,” she said as she choked up.
Her deceased grandmother’s home ended up with a silted yard and several inches of water inside which will require new carpet and probably some wall replacement. Her parents’ home, amazingly, did not get water in the living quarters. However, the large yard, the backyard pool, tool shed, and of course the garage were all heavily damaged.
Volunteers helped move items out of the garage to either dry out, or be tossed onto a growing pile of debris in the front yard near Route 85 to be eventually hauled away.
The West Virginia Division of Highways had a crew working to rebuild the Shawnee Trail Bridge across Pond Fork several miles away. The flood took out the original bridge and left a half-dozen homes cut off from vehicle access. All along Route 85 debris piles stood as a monument to the loss caused by the rapid rise in the water.
“We didn’t have time to think. You worked and moved quick and got what you could up to higher ground, that’s all you could do,” said a woman in the Van community who was trying to get a handle on her mess.
She and her husband sat in a car just yards away and watched the water rise into their home and both garages. Outside a refrigerator, generator, dish washer, and other appliances stood beside a large debris pile. All were ruined.
Nearby at the Van Volunteer fire department, fire fighters handed out supplies to flood victims. The biggest needs now are lime and electric fans to help with the drying process in hard to reach places like crawlspaces underneath homes. Crews say the outpouring of support was greatly appreciated, but the need remained and all agreed it would take a long time to put their lives back together.
“It’s a lot more widespread that what most people think,” said Beard. “Anybody who rides up through here can get an idea. We have people that has lost their homes completely, off their foundation and they are homeless.”