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Virginia here.
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In July of 2001, southern West Virginia
experienced what many have considered to have been a "100 Year Flood". In 2002, along came what others called
a "500 Year Flood". Areas affected were primarily Wyoming, Mingo, McDowell. Logan and Boone Counties, other counties
were also affected in 2001 but we really want to focus on the meteorological magnet which consist of these 5 counties.
We call this area a meteorological magnet simply because we average one of these "100 Year Floods"
once every 4 or 5 years. Heck this area of West Virginia could truly qualify for submission into the Guinness Book Of world
Records as "Home of The Meteorological Phenomenon Occurrances". For some silly reason, freak storms and torential
downpours target these areas on a regualr basis.
Complete homes and business were wiped out of existance.
People were uprooted and had to relocate from places that they called home for generations. Business owners who could barely
afford simple liability insurace had no way to pay for clean up and inventory replacement.
The federal government
really was not much help. Now to be perfectly clear. The generosity and kindness of the folks in the area and from other states
was impressive. The National Guard arrived to help curb the many sight seers which clogged roadways and alleys making the
clean up effort extremely hard. Army trucks and dozers were on hand to load and haul debris to the land fills. The Salvation
Army was there as soon as they were able to drive into the affected areas, giving a helping hand, warm meals and drinking
water to the devastated residents. Church organizations from other states and areas in West Virginia that were not afected
soon arrived.
Eventually the Federal Emergency Management teams (FEMA), came in. The author of this
web site was also affected ini 2001 and verifies this report. FEMA came in and basically promised money for replacement and
clean up. It was almost like they were promising the victims an acre of land on the moon and free space shuttle flight to
get there. For a house full of water, warpped floors, destroyed heating system and duct work and a ton of personal belongings
stored in out buildings, that to this day no one knows were it actually ended up. A whopping check 6 months later for $600
dollars. But what would one expect from the government?
Then West Virginia Govenor Bob Wise commissioned a study by the University of West
Virginia to determine what caused the massive flooding. Many of the victims began to complain about all the mountain top removal,
timbering and gas well drilling that has ever increased in the area as playing a very impotant role in the flooding. The results
of the study? Just a meteorlogical freak of nature. Stripping the mountains of their protective coverings and creating roads
every twenty feet could not ever cause this type of damage. Yea, right!
Those who did the study were actually
never seen walking through the mountains or talking to the people who had their lives destroyed. Work was done in a lab in
Morgantown. For those of you who have never been to Morgantown, they do not have mountains like we do here in the southern
part of the state. Only people who live in the mountains can tell you how these mountains really work. But, you can't
fight city hall as the saying goes.
The estimated cost of the 2001 flood
was well over $20 million dollars. Tax payers fooed the bill for it all. If you ask the victims of the flood who they thought
was responsible for the disaster, they all would say it lies with the mining companies, timbering companies and gas well drillers.
But the government says that they were not at fault.
Pineville, Baileysville, Wyoming County Area
Gilbert, Mingo County Area
Hanover, Wyoming County Area
Oceana, Wyoming County Area
The Oceana area dodged the "water balloon" this time around. The Clear Fork stream did swell
and over run it's banks but nothing like what the towns of Gilbert and Hanover received. In the summer of 2001, Oceana
and the Clear Fork Valley resembled the above photos of Gilbert and Hanover. There was at least one great thing with all the
flooding. This time, no one lost their life due to the flood. Rumour was that, in 2001, one woman did lose her life in that
flood simply because she did not heed the rescuer's warning and drown when the house she was in collapsed.
