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Major Flooding In Southern Parts of the Area
Posted Saturday, May 9, 2009 ; 04:20 AM | View Comments | Post Comment
Updated Saturday, May 9, 2009 ; 01:37 PM


Road closures and evacuations occurring.

Story by Jared Hoffman
Email | Bio | Other Stories by Jared Hoffman

HUNTINGTON -- Heavy rains have been training over the same areas for the last few hours.

Many counties in southern Kentucky and southern West Virginia have seen waters rising on area creeks and streams.

Flood Warnings are in effect for pasts of Morgan, Martin, Magoffin, Floyd and Pike counties in Kentucky....along with parts of Mingo, Logan, Raleigh, Wyoming, McDowell, Mercer, Monroe and Summers counties in West Virginia. Parts of Bland, Giles and Tazewell counties in Virginia also have Flood Warnings.

We have received reports of evacuations taking place in Wyoming County, where major roads are closed due to flooding. Officials also urge people to avoid traveling Rt. 10 there. Problems are being reported around Oceana, Glen Fork, and Mullens, site of this weekend's Dogwood Festival. Reports of water over that parts of that site have been reported to County officials.

Power outages have occurred in the areas of English, Davy, Bartley, and Kimball in McDowell County. Officials say most roads in McDowell County are also covered with water.

Southern areas of Mingo County have been hardest hit with heavy rains around Williamson. There are reports of most state roads in the county being flooded. Flooding has also been reported near Gilbert and Varney, as well as around Coal City, Lego, Mead and Rhodell in Raleigh County. Farther south, flooding is occuring in portions of Mercer County, where evacuations are occuring around Camp Creek in the State Park area. Highway 219 in Monroe County is reportedly closed around Lindside and near Union.

Reports have come in from Pike County, Kentucky of residents stranded in their homes. The Big Creek Fire Department has a foot of water in the building. Some of the hardest hit towns include South Williamson, Big Creek, Sidney and Belfry. 13 News reporter Shane Irwin is in Pike County and says water is covering many parts of Route 119. We also received a report from Hardy....there is significant flood damage through the town of Hardy. Emergency shelters have been opened around Belfry.

If you live close to a creek or stream you will want to keep a very close eye on water levels. The showers are slowly sinking southward, but we will still see heavy showers at times over the short-term. The Guyandotte River at Man, Logan and Branchland is expected to reach flood stage, as is the Tug Fork River at Williamson. Some of these crests could be at historic levels.

If you encounter a flooded roadway turn around and find an alternate route.

We will keep you updated from the Storm Tracker Weather Lab with all of the latest warnings and watches here online and on your TV throughout the day.

Additional Photos
Flooding around Brenton, WV
Photo Credit: Michelle Strickland
Flooding around Brenton, WV

Flooding around Brenton, WV
Photo Credit: Michelle Strickland
Flooding around Brenton, WV

The Guyandotte River is rising up around Stollings, WV in Logan County.
Photo Credit: Sheila
The Guyandotte River is rising up around Stollings, WV in Logan County.


Copyright 2009 West Virginia Media. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
User Comments [ post comment ]
User Comment
Sandra Rogers
5/9/09 at 5:58 PM
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I and my husband, both older disabled have had to go to anawalt, wv evacuation center. We have since returned to our home and are watching the water levels closely for any signs of rising waters again. I wanted to voice a concern though with this emergency problem. With everything digitized and nationalized, we had no notification of the emergency situation of our location. Had it not been for quick decision, it could have been a life threatening situation. The information is almost impossible to get in our area. We have no local channels we can recieve, no cell reception, and no radio stations receivable on standard radios. With computer and phone lines going in and out, we felt very alone. Only calling my daughter out of state could we find out where the emergency evacuation center for the county was located. Upon trying to make the drive to there, the road was closed and we had to turn back. Are we leaving communities behind and calling it technological advancement? I turned the weather channel on on tv only to be met with storm stories of past events, oh my God, what do we do. We are fine now, but I find myself wondering about the weather emergencies and sept 11, how would we know what happened or what to do. Where was the emergency warning on sept 11, and where was it today, where do we look, wait to see if it is in tomorrows newspaper? I am sure this is a nervous thought after what could have been a bad situation. I am not technology behind, I know how to find things, and I could find nothing quickly.

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