Scars remain. Homes are gone. Orange markings doom buildings still in need of demolition. Some structures were twisted by one of the greatest forces of nature.
It’s been a little over three months since nine people perished after more than 5 inches of rain fell on the eastern side of Ohio County in just a couple of hours and flash-flooded Valley Grove, Triadelphia, and parts of Elm Grove. Seven of the victims resided in Triadelphia, and two of them – a husband and wife – were from Moundsville.
The ages of the deceased ranged from 3 to 83, and they are Michael Bokanovich, Michael and Connie Veronis, Lisa McMasters, Kyleigh and Parker Shotton, Travis Creighton, Sandra Parsons, and Jesse Pearson.
“To say the residents are heartbroken would be an understatement,” said Ohio County Sheriff Nelson Croft. “They lost family and they lost friends, and people are still very sad.
“You know your neighbors in communities like Triadelphia and Valley Grove. Everyone knows everyone,” he said. “It’s going to be this way for a while.”
Thunderstorms were reported in the area most of the early evening that Saturday evening, and the National Weather Service issued a Flash Warning for parts of Belmont, Brooke, and Ohio counties shortly after 8:30 p.m. By 8:50 p.m., flash flooding was already covering U.S. 40 in the two villages, and the agency later reported as much as 4 inches of rain fell in parts of the county in about an hour.
“We’d never seen anything like that,” said Lou Vargo, the director of the Wheeling-Ohio County Emergency Management Agency. “We see flooding in this area from time to time, but nothing like that. That was the worst (natural) disaster in the history of Ohio County, and with the most fatalities. Unprecedented, for sure.
“We’ve been told by the National Weather Service that the amount of moisture that was in the air that night was something they’d never seen before,” he said. “The warning was issued, but it happened so quick, it caught a lot of people by surprise.”
The deadline for residents to register with both FEMA and the Small Business Administration passed on September 29, and federal officials have reported that more than 30 maximum grants were issued in Ohio County. The final amount of assessed damage will not be available until after all claims are processed, according to Philip Maramba, an Emergency Management Specialist with FEMA, but the total was over $8 million at the end of September.
“I know a lot of people got a lot of help from (FEMA) and from the (Small Business Administration),” Croft reported. “I also know that we were approved for funds to balance our Sheriff’s Office budget because our overtime took a heck of hit for more than a month after the flooding, but we were very fortunate that we didn’t lose any vehicles.
“I know a lot of people are recovering, but when you lose so much, it’s hard to feel normal. And there were homes completely destroyed, and that means starting completely over,” he said. “It’s going to take a long while before anyone out there feel anything normal.”
We Are … West Virginia
Chad Kleeh, the mayor of the Village of Valley Grove, was worried.
With one ear, he was listening to the political babble about declaration delays, and with the other ear, he paid attention to the people. Naturally, he was anxious up until July 22 when President Donald Trump signed an amended declaration that included residential, commercial, and public government.
“You just didn’t know what to think at the time,” Kleeh recalled. “But I can tell you a lot of people got a lot of help and it seems like they’re going to be OK. We had a lot of help from the community, and it was really incredible, and FEMA and the (SBA) helped a lot of people.
“I am working with the people with FEMA for the village now and it’s meeting after meeting,” he explained. “The federal folks have been great to work with and I’m very grateful. Going into this, at the very beginning, I had no idea what to expect.”
No one did, including Croft, but once the Sheriff witnessed an unbelievable level of volunteerism taking place, his confidence grew. National organizations like Christian-based 8 Days of Hope and Samaritan’s Purse set up operations in the flood-stricken areas, and other groups from OV Mutual Aid, Newbridge Church, the C3 Church, and a plethora of others showed up every day to help the families dig out and dry off.
“We are West Virginians, and that means something. We showed up, and we got a lot of help from good people from outside the area because they know the struggles that come with natural disasters,” he said. “And it was every day. People would work to make sense of their homes and their neighbors’ homes, and then they’d get showered and cleaned up and then be dirty again a half-hour later because they went over to the neighbors to help them.
“It’s a lot, too. It was more than ever before,” the sheriff explained. “But I’ve been inspired by the people in those communities. They kept me going at times because they just don’t quit. They have their shovels and their brooms, and they just keep working to try to get to their best version of their new normal even though it’ll never be normal again in those areas of Ohio County.”
But those who can rebuild are doing just that along U.S. 40 in Triadelphia, Valley Grove, and in parts of Elm Grove, and Croft is hopeful he’ll witness even more as residents and businesses complete dealing with the two federal disaster assistance agencies.
“There is some reconstruction taking place now and that’s great to see, but I also think there are some people who waited to file with FEMA for whatever reasons and now that they are waiting for those funds to come through,” Croft said. “I know a lot of folks have received their checks, and that’s fantastic, and there were a lot of people who get the max amount. But some of those folks are in a real tough spot because their homes were completely destroyed.
“The devastation happened so fast, but the recovery is going to take a long while. I think that reality has finally set in.”
