Flash Flood — Boone, West Virginia

2001-07-08 · near Whitesville, Boone, West Virginia

Event narrative

Small headwater creeks, such as Seng Creek, started flooding around 0900E. Larger creeks along the Raleigh County line flooded by 1000E. Lastly, the Big Coal River flooded from the Whitesville vicinity on down to Sylvester. The crest on the Big Coal River then flattened-out toward Orgas. The most severe flooding was along the steep slopes adjacent to Seng Creek. Five homes were condemned. Approximately, 30 homes had major damage.

Wider weather episode

This episode, on the 8th of July, saw fast moving thunderstorms form along a north/south warm frontal boundary. This boundary marked the division between the dry and less humid air to the east, from the incoming steamy moist air, to the west. Low level inflow from the west and northwest was not disturbed, causing new storm formation. The initial training of the thunderstorms occurred across Tyler, Doddridge, and Harrison Counties during the predawn hours, dumping 2 to 3.5 inches of rain. A few hours later, the second and larger area of enhanced rainfall occurred across extreme eastern Kanawha County, western Fayette County, western Raleigh County, eastern Wyoming County, and extreme eastern McDowell County. The average west to east width of this enhanced rain was on the order of 30 miles, with a compass heading from 340 to 160 degrees. In a 3 to 6 hour period, rains of 3 to 5.5 inches were common within that band. Maximum rain rates of 1.5 to 2.5 inches per hour occurred. Upslope, into these higher elevations, likely aided these rain amounts. Despite the initially dry top soil and low stream levels, the steep terrain and narrow valleys were quickly saturated. Between 0715 and 0830E, Hawks Nest State Park measured 2.3 inches of rain. With individual thunderstorm cells racing southeast at 40 to 50 mph, brief lulls occurred before new thunderstorm cells transversed this corridor. Lulls in the rain intensity were on the order of 5 to 15 minutes. The National Weather Service rain gauge in Mullens was washed away by the Slab Fork, but a Corps of Engineers automated gauge recorded a total of 5.37 inches. Other storm totals included 5.2 inches at Oceana and 5.0 inches at Hawks Nest State Park. A volunteer spotter at Page also reported 5.0 inches. Oak Hill and Pineville both measured 4.8 inches, while downtown Beckley had 4.6 inches. Elkhorn measured 4.5 inches of rain. A spotter on Arista Mountain on the Wyoming/Mercer County line had 4.3 inches of rain. London Lock and Dam had 4.0 inches of rain. A Corps of Engineers gauge one mile east of Crab Orchard also measured 4 inches. Dry Creek of Raleigh County saw 3.9 inches of rain. As many as 14,000 homes lost power, with the most in Fayette and Wyoming Counties. Railroad beds were washed-out or undermined. Vulnerable spots were where railroad tracks crossed small streams running down from adjacent slopes. The Amtrak Cardinal train between Chicago and Washington D.C. was stopped in Charleston, as the main line through the New River gorge was damaged in Fayette County. A spokesman for the United States Postal Service said flood damages occurred at the officeslocated at Anawalt, Clear Fork, Dorothy, Glen Jean, Glen Ferris, Itmann, Kimball, Kincaid, Lynco, Maybeury, Minden, Mullens, Switchback, Wyco, and Wyoming. The most extensive damage was done to the offices in Kimball, Mullens, and Minden. The Mullens and Kimball offices were relocated to new quarters. The Minden office was washed off its foundation, but was stopped from floating further away, by its flag pole. Most of these offices were leased by the Postal Service, so the damages were the responsibility of the lessors. However, approximately $200,000 was spent with postal funds in labor and materials for the recovery. The state reported 61 water systems were damaged. The state board of education estimated about 3 million dollars in damage to schools, most in Wyoming County. More than 500 people gathered in 23 emergency shelters. Many flooded residents stayed with relatives. To assist in the clean-up., the air and army national guard personnel peaked at around 2400 members during the 4th week of July. Personnel from South Carolina, Virginia, Tennessee, and Kentucky, joined the West Virginia troops. The major general of the WV National Guard described the scene in southern West Virginia by saying, "It's just massive destruction". By month's end, 35,000 tons of debris had been hauled away by contractors. Much of the debris had collected on, or against, private and state bridges. The American Red Cross served over 275,000 meals to flood victims and recovery personnel.FEMA added more counties to the original disaster declaration 1378 that was initiated in May. The agency set up a large disaster field office in Charleston. Temporary and large term housing trailers were being established by the month's end, amounting to 29 million dollars in disaster housing. To summarize, for many affected residents, this flood was not a matter of property loss, but of survival. Many along the small streams had to escape "walls of water" within minutes. A father of a family in Dorothy thought, "we'll never get out of this alive". Water roared out of the hollows and onto the wider valleys, carrying trees, rocks, mud, and pieces of homes. As the steep topsoil turned into a liquid, considerable damage was done to dwellings, due to the runoff and debris slides. Accounts from citizens included running up the sides of mountains, driving to higher ground and waiting in vehicles, escaping from roof tops, while others were trapped in their homes. Governor Wise assessed the damage from the air during the afternoon of the 8th. His helicopter was then pressed into the rescue efforts. The main reason there was only 1 fatality, in these counties, was the fact that the flood occurred on a Sunday. Most residents were still at home, rather than at work or school. As a result, the urge to travel was limited. Also, the daylight hours made their escapes safer. Then, almost as quickly as it came, the water was gone. Newspaper headlines favored the words, "destruction" and "devastation" to describe this event.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 5261791. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.