Over the weekend, West Virginia had severe floods, killing at least six people, and the search for missing people continued on Monday. The flooding was caused by a stalled cold front with multiple low pressure systems moving across the mid-Atlantic, and AccuWeather meteorologists predict that more flooding will occur in the same places this week.
More flooding on its way
“Unfortunately, the front is not moving,” AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Chad Merrill stated. “It will be the focal point for additional flooding problems until the pattern finally breaks on Thursday.”
Due to recent severe rain that has already saturated the ground, even 1 inch of rain falling in a one-hour period can cause floods across much of the state. Merrill predicted that these individual storms would easily deliver 1.5 inches per hour.
The most vulnerable area in West Virginia to flooding in the middle of the week is the I-79 corridor, which encompasses Morgantown, Fairmont, and Charleston.
Wheeling and Triadelphia are experiencing deadly flooding
“The steep terrain across West Virginia also contributes to the effectiveness of water to run off into smaller valleys,” Merrill observed. “A prime example of that happened Saturday night in Wheeling, West Virginia, when Wheeling Creek rose almost 7 feet in two hours, reaching minor flood stage.”
West Virginia Governor Patrick Morrisey reported six deaths in Ohio County, West Virginia, which includes Wheeling and Triadelphia. Two other individuals are missing. Lou Vargo, Director of the Wheeling-Ohio County Homeland Security and Emergency Management Agency, stated that the county’s infrastructure had suffered significant damage.
‘A power you can’t even imagine’
Mark Peluchette, president of Liberty Distributors, appeared on the AccuWeather Early show on Monday to explain how, in a matter of minutes, they “went from just a little trickle of water” to a “river of water that was 4 feet deep and 50 yards wide” during the recent flash flooding in Triadelphia, West Virginia.
His entire operation, including offices, merchandise, and equipment, was carried away. A tractor trailer and a 30-ton backhoe were shifted a mile down the road due to the extreme floods.
“It’s a force that you can’t even imagine,” Peluchette remarked. “I’ve never seen destruction like this before, the speed at which it happened.”
An apartment building fell during heavy rain
In Fairmont, West Virginia, an apartment building partially collapsed after heavy rain generated a buildup of muddy floods on one side of the structure. Floodwaters pushed through the first floor, destroying walls on the opposite side. The walls on higher floors eventually fell way, allowing torrential rain from the roof to cascade down like a waterfall.
“When the engine company arrived on the scene, they heard people screaming for help in the buildings behind me, saying people were trapped,” Fairmont Fire Department Capt. Dustin Lambert explained.
Fortunately, people on the lower stories were evacuated before the walls fell. There were no casualties reported.
One rain gauge near Fairmont recorded three-day rainfall totals of more than five inches.
A month-long flood in the state
“So far this month, 49 Flash Flood Warnings have been issued in West Virginia,” Merrill said the audience. “This ranks as the third-most number of Flash Flood Warnings issued in June since 1985, and we are only halfway through the month.”
