Flash flooding triggered by heavy rainstorms has resulted in the deaths of five individuals in northern West Virginia. Additionally, rescue teams were actively searching for three missing persons on Sunday while authorities evaluated the extent of damage inflicted on roads, bridges, natural gas lines, and other critical infrastructure.
Officials said 2.5 to 4 inches (6 to 10 centimeters) of rain fell in parts of Wheeling and Ohio County within about a half hour on Saturday night.
“Almost immediately, we began to receive 911 calls for rescues due to individuals being trapped,” stated Lou Vargo, Ohio County’s emergency management director, during a Sunday news conference. “During this period, significant damage occurred to roads, bridges, and highways, which impeded our ability to respond promptly to numerous incidents. Our efforts were delayed because the damage was so widespread.”
Vargo continued: “The situation escalated very quickly. I’ve been in this field for 35 years, witnessing major floods both in the city and the county. However, I’ve never experienced anything of this magnitude.”
Authorities said vehicles were swept into swollen creeks, some people sought safety in trees and a mobile home caught fire.
Similarly, swift flash flooding arrived in Marion County, south of Wheeling and Ohio County, early Sunday afternoon, causing extensive damage to bridges, roads and some homes, the county’s Department of Homeland Security & Emergency Management said in a Facebook post. The county’s 911 line has already processed at least 165 calls for service since the storms began.
Gov. Patrick Morrisey declared a state of emergency in Marion County Sunday evening.
Jim Blazier, the fire chief in Wheeling in the state’s northern panhandle, said crews performed rescue operations into Sunday’s early morning hours. He said first responders regrouped Sunday morning and were focused on an area from the Ohio state line across the Ohio River to Wheeling Creek.
“We’re searching the banks, we’re searching submerged vehicles, any debris we find along the trail and so forth,” Blazier said. “We’re using drones, search dogs and swift water personnel, and we have teams organized that are searching sectors that we’re trying to recover anybody that’s missing.”
There were about 2,500 reported power outages in the county Sunday, Morrisey confirmed in a news release Sunday evening, which updated the number of people confirmed dead to five, with three more missing. He has declared a state of emergency in Ohio County and mobilized the National Guard to support emergency operations.
“In many respects, this is kind of a unicorn event, because a lot of the rain had very narrow areas and there were roughly 3 to 4 inches of water that fell in the area in less than an hour,” Morrisey said at a press conference earlier Sunday. “That’s very, very difficult to deal with.”
He added, “Your friends, your neighbors, your first responders and people in the community, they’re out working very hard to find people. That’s our No. 1 task right now, trying to identify anyone who may still be out there.”
The West Virginia rains followed heavy downpours in San Antonio on Thursday that killed 13 people. More than 7 inches (18 centimeters) of rain fell over a span of hours in the Texas city, causing fast-rising floodwaters to carry more than a dozen cars into a creek.
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Associated Press writer Jesse Bedayn in Denver contributed.
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