2016 FLOOD

By: WSAZ News Staff | Posted: Sept. 8, 2016 | Source: WSAZ

KANAWHA COUNTY, W.Va. (WSAZ) — A newly formed committee is going to help ease the transition process as FEMA withdraws from West Virginia following the June 23 flooding.

The Greater Kanawha Long Term Recovery Committee is made up of members from organizations like The Red Cross, Union Mission, and Mountain Mission.

Thursday night Kanawha County Commissioners gave the group $50,000 to help establish it’s headquarters in Clendenin and help displaced residents. (more…)

By: Eric Halperin | Posted: July 14, 2016 | Source: WOWKTV

Clendenin was one of the hardest hit areas by the storm. Buildings overturned, businesses destroyed, a church nearly falling into the river and roads caved in. It’s all just some of the damage left behind by deadly floods as people continued the cleanup.

“It’s like your in a state of shock,” said Kathy Boggs.

She’s lived in her Clendenin home for more than 30 years and said she’s never seen flooding this bad.  (more…)

By: Associated Press | Posted: July 12, 2016 at 2:16 pm | Source: Page Six

Actress and West Virginia native Jennifer Garner is heading to her home state to raise money for a school damaged by deadly floods.

Garner will attend a July 19 fundraiser at the University of Charleston for flood-damaged Herbert Hoover High School in Clendenin.

Admission is $100 or $500 for a meet-and-greet and photo. Sponsorships are $1,000.

The June 23 floods killed 23 people and ravaged homes and infrastructure. Clendenin was one of the hardest-hit towns.

Floods left mud in the halls and ruined some classrooms at Herbert Hoover. The boiler room had 10 feet of water. The rest of the first floor had 7 feet of water.

Country singer and fellow West Virginia native Brad Paisley toured the school late last month. He’s also raising money for flood victims.

By: Tom Di Liberto | Posted: July 8, 2016 | Source: Climate.gov

A tremendous amount of rain fell across central and southern West Virginia and western Virginia during the third week of June. With nowhere to go but into local waterways, many streams, creeks and rivers turned into raging torrents, washing away anything in their paths. The flash floods killed at least 23 people making the event the third deadliest flood in West Virginia history according to news reports citing the West Virginia state climatologist, Kevin Law. (more…)

By: Sean DeLancey, Jarrod Clay | Posted: July 1, 2016 | Source: WCHSTV

CLENDENIN, WV (WCHS/WVAH) — Four generations of a Clendenin family are putting their lives back together after losing everything to floodwaters.

When most people experience tragedy they lean on family for support, but this family can’t because they all lost their homes.

Clendenin is still in ruins. Hundreds of homes are gutted and no longer fit to live in. (more…)

By: Alexandra Zaslow | Posted: July 1, 2016 at 4:03 pm | Source: Today.com

Nick Scott was on his way to a local church to help those affected by the flooding in West Virginia, when he encountered a heartbreaking sight.

While sitting in traffic with dozens of shampoo bottles, clothing and food in the backseat of his car, he spotted a young boy, Michael Swiney, standing in the mud watching his family members attempt to salvage cherished possessions from their Clendenin, West Virginia, home. (more…)

By: Elizabeth Sanders LaFleur | Posted: July 1, 2016 | Source: Greenville News

Jonathan and Melissa Cleghorn were out of town when devastating floods hit West Virginia late last week.

Cleghorn says a neighbor called to let him know the river behind their home in Clendenin, West Virginia was rising. Cleghorn says the family checked a river meter on the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration website and saw the water was rapidly rising. Over the next hours and days, Cleghorn said they watched as the river peaked at nearly 33 and a half feet. That peak broke a record from the 1880s and was more than 14 feet above flood stage. (more…)

By: Sgt. Zoe Morris | Posted: July 1, 2016 | Source: U.S. Army

CLENDENIN, W.Va. – When the flood waters began rising in West Virginia on the night of June 23, the call went out the Clendenin Fire Department’s swift-water rescue unit — one of the best in the state, according to Kevin Clendenin, who is not only fire chief but was also out on a rescue mission that evening.

Within hours, those team members would be working with West Virginia National Guard members on countless rescue missions. (more…)

By: Sam Hodges | Posted: June 28, 2016 | Source: The United Methodist Church

The Rev. Scott Ferguson was away on vacation when the floods hit Clendenin, West Virginia, last week. When he finally got a look at the parsonage of Clendenin United Methodist Church, he realized he and his wife wouldn’t be staying there for a while longer.

“We took about three and a half feet of water in our home,” Ferguson said. “Everything downstairs is lost.”

But he’s made progress with mud removal, and he’s determined that he and his congregation will stay the course spiritually during a hard time.

“We just want to make sure God is praised even through the storm,” he said. (more…)

By: Dan Heyman | Posted: June 26, 2016 | Source: New York Times

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Cole Chapman and his wife, Silvia Gabriel Fields, were having coffee on their deck when a nearby creek suddenly burst its banks, sending them and their two children sprinting to their pickup truck for safety.

“We heard cracking and popping, and a sheet of water just started pouring into the yard,” Mr. Chapman said Saturday night. “It was like something totally exploded.”

Minutes later, their yard submerged beneath gushing, knee-deep water, the family raced over muddy roads to higher ground.

“My son was in the back seat, saying, ‘We’re going to die, we’re going to die,’” Mr. Chapman recalled. “I’m sitting there thinking, ‘I sure hope you’re not right.’” (more…)