Emergency declared due to flooding in Logan County
- WVOW News
- Apr 4
- 3 min read
LOGAN The National Weather Service predicts severe weather to continue through Sunday. Just this morning, a flash flood warning was issued and the flooding happened fast.
Throughout Logan County, major flooding cut off access to a number of roads and bridges in low lying areas. Logan County Office of Emergency Management Director Roger Bryant told WVOW that a state of emergency issued this morning by County Commission President Diana Barnette is a significant first step in getting state or federal aid down the road.
“We utilize all the county resources available to us,” Bryant said. “It gives some protection to our fire departments and our emergency responders. It opens up, once we exceed out capabilities, we can appeal to the state for additional resources.”
According to the Emergency Declaration, the flooding threatens the public health and safety and may require extraordinary measures and actions. The order will remain in effect until rescinded by a subsequent order.
Friday afternoon, beneath WV 73 in the Mount Gay/Cherry Tree area, the creek had entirely overtaken the road. Upstream, flooding ran through to the Mud Fork/Verdunville area, where Southern Community & Technical College was completely shut off and the water was on the verge of flowing into the community of Baisden Bottom.
As of four o'clock Friday afternoon, Holden Road was closed due to water at the former Rich Gas Station location. Route ten near Phico also closed for a mudslide.
According to the Logan County Office of Emergency Management, a temporary emergency center has been opened in Chapmanville at the Tracey Vickers Community Center to assist anyone that may need shelter or is otherwise being affected by the flooding across the county. Bryant says crews will be working on opening additional shelters throughout the day and into the night as need arises.
“We’re presently in rescue mode,” Bryant said. “We’ve been doing various rescues through out the county.”
Bryant said rescues were executed around Chapmanville and Mount Gay. He said the floods Friday were essentially a repeat from the floods that last hit the are the weekend of February 15th.
“We’ll be opening up a center for people who need shelter at the County Resource Center at Peach Creek (former 84 Lumber location). Presently, they may go to the Tracy Vickers Community Center at Chapmanville. They do not have an overnight facility so all those in that location will be moved to Peach Creek. May have another location set-up at the Cora Volunteer Fire Department.”
Moreover, the West Virginia Emergency Management Division has put out a disaster survey to gather information on the damages caused by the current flooding. If you need help completing that survey, you can call 2-1-1 between the hours of 8am and 4pm. The survey itself can be found at e-m-d-[dot]-w-v-[dot]gov-[slash]disaster-survey. This is not an application for assistance, but it will help the state gather the information it needs to appeal for federal aid following this flooding.
FEMA assistance is currently active in Logan County due to the previous round of floods that hit the area in February. However, Disaster Recovery Centers are closed today due to the severe weather. In the meantime, you can still report damages from the previous floods. Another center at Tolsia High School in Wayne County set to open today has had that opening delayed by today’s weather.
The National Weather Service says “turn around, don’t drown.” With hilly terrain like in West Virginia, there are hundreds of low water crossings with are potentially dangerous in heavy rain. Do not attempt to cross flooded roads and, if you can, find an alternate route or pick another place to reach safety.
Once you are safe, you can report any flooding in your area to the National Weather Service by calling 800 – 401 – 9535.
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