‘Get a hold of me ASAP. Flooding.’
That’s what Doug Nelson’s text stated when he sent it to his wife, Susie, the evening of June 14th when he was in total freak-out mode in Valley Grove, W.Va., and she was sound asleep across the pond in London.
True story.
Susie was on a trip abroad with her mother and her children, and Doug was home with the dog and defenseless against the four inches of rain that fell in 40 minutes and created a tragic natural disaster that claimed nine lives and swept away millions of dollars in damage.
“It was in the middle of the last night we were there, and that was when the text from my husband, Doug, came through, and I didn’t know at first if it was serious or not. I had no idea what he meant by flooding, but I didn’t think it was something to panic about,” she recalled. “I remember thinking, ‘Should I get up and sneak into the bathroom so I can call him? Will he just ShopVac it?
“I really just wanted to go to sleep, but then my neighbor texted me, and she didn’t know I was out of town. Her text said, ‘Are you guys, OK? It just took my car’. That’s when I got up.”
The Nelson home was filling up with creek water and mud when the husband and wife finally connected.
“I called him and I’ve never heard him that scared before. That’s when I knew he wasn’t being an alarmist. He tried to explain what was happening, but when we came home the next day and I couldn’t get to our house because we lost our bridge, I could just imagine what happened,” Nelson said. “We had to stay at my mom’s house because we didn’t have electricity or hot water.
“We hadn’t seen anything like that here in Valley Grove for a long time – not since 1990 – and the town wasn’t the same Valley Grove that we left. It was shocking. I said, ‘Oh my God’ about every 100 feet. It was unbelievably bad.”
‘Just Wow’
Along with more than 70 vehicles, trailers, storage containers, campers and RVs, and motorcycles were swept away along with yard swings, porch furniture, and everything else in the water’s way. The victims included five males and four females, and more than 20 swift-water rescues were recorded by first responders.
Some demolitions have already taken place, and more are scheduled for the fall, but for the Nelsons and many other Ohio County families, the process of cleanup, repair, and reconstruction has been in full swing since the disaster occurred two months ago.
“We immediately had family and friends show up to help us, and so did our neighbors. We’ve been fortunate to have a lot of help,” Nelson said. “That bridge was rebuilt in a day or two.
“The second day we must have had around 30 people, and that was very emotional,” she said. “I can’t even remember everyone, and then another bunch of people showed up. And thank God there were young people, too, because there’s always a lot of heavy stuff.”
“We had a freezer, a washer and dryer, residential oil tanks, and all the basement stuff that when you have to move it, you quickly realize your age at 53.”
Nelson has been the executive director of the Community Foundation Ohio Valley for 18 years, and during that time she’s tripled the non-profit’s growth and grantmaking while remaining very active with a number of charitable organizations.
But even she was amazed by her community.
“The volunteerism just blew my mind, and not just at my house. It was taking place everywhere, and it was incredible,” Nelson said. “There were the church and religious groups, and they were incredible, and so many other organizations that came together for this community. And the giving? Wow. Just wow.
“I thought I knew about philanthropy in this area because of what I do that for a living, but it turns out I had no idea. I’m still in awe of it,” she said. “The recovery has gone very well because of people helping people, and that process will continue for a while working with FEMA and the other agencies. I encourage everyone to go talk to them so they can help you as much as they can.”
Rebuild or Relocate?
The Ohio County Emergency Management Agency, the Ohio County Sheriff’s Department, and a number of other agencies responded immediately to the villages of Valley Grove and Triadelphia as the flash flooding was in progress.
While first responders saved lives, they could not stop the devastation and destruction caused by flood waters, and that’s why a number of structures in both communities now have an “X” on the front door.
“What do you do if you’re faced with that situation. Stay or go? Those are big decisions; life-changing decisions,” Nelson said. “Do you rebuild there, or do you go somewhere else? And can you even rebuild in the same place?
“It was one of those floods you never thought would happen,” she said. “I know we’re still not back to normal, and I know for some residents, it’ll never be normal again. It was hard. It’s still hard. We’re still not back to normal.”
Kim Fuller is a manager and spokesperson for FEMA who has been assigned to both Marion and Ohio counties, and the Small Business Administration has stationed Public Affairs Specialist Monia Myles to the Wheeling area. Both representatives have been sources for local media outlets since their arrival three weeks ago, and both federal agencies have dispatched a plethora of employees into the affected areas.
The Nelson family has met with FEMA, and Susie had a good idea what to expect and she posted on her Facebook Timeline about it.
“Let’s be real here. It is GREAT that FEMA and the SBA are here and they are going to provide a lot of help to a lot of people. But they can only do so much.”
“It is great that FEMA is here,” she said, “but FEMA is not going to make everybody whole. That’s not how it works, but we do have other funds available at the United Way, at the Community Foundation, and at other places. We just have to make those connections now to fill those gaps, and then we have to go through the process.
“I am encouraging everyone who was flooded to go see the people from FEMA,” she added. “We’ll probably file an appeal, but I have nothing bad to say about the experience.”
