Many residents in the two Ohio County towns decimated by the fatal flash flooding in mid-June grew impatient with the process involving the Federal Emergency Management Agency, and after President Donald Trump announced late yesterday that $11.7 million in recovering funding would flow to the Mountain State, some were thankful while other played politics.
But the bottom line is, according to Tony Campbell from Ohio County’s EMA, the funds will allow many to rebuild their properties and others to restart their lives.
“A lot of people in the Valley Grove and Triadelphia areas are now in the recovery process, and that means a lot of people are rebuilding their properties inside and outside,” said the assistant director. “A lot of those folks need skilled labor; I can tell you that. For example, not a lot of people are very good at finishing drywall, so I know there are families who need help with those kind of tasks right now.
“When you get hit with that much water, you have to strip the house down to its bare bones and start over, and it’s not easy,” he said. “A lot of people in those areas need electricians, too, and those kinds of needs are going to be there for a while. The donation they need most now is people power. They need that kind of help if anyone wants to go help.”
Campbell spent 32 years as a Wheeling firefighter before joining Ohio County EMA Director Lou Vargo, and the flooding that took place during the evening of June 14th is, by far, the worst tragedy he’s seen during his career. Not only did the raging waters destroy more than 40 homes, sweep away at least 70 automobiles, and cause millions of dollars in damage, nine lives were lost.
“In all my years as a first responder, never have I seen the amount of destruction and debris that I’ve seen connected to this disaster. It’s houses and trailers and campers, and it’s anything anyone had in their yards or near their swimming pools and hot tubs,” Campbell said. “There’s been fencing, hoses, swing sets – you name it. That flashing flooding picked it all up and put it down where it wanted.
“For me, it’s been a reminder that weather can change lives in an instant,” he said. “It was that quick, too, in Valley Grove and Triadelphia.”
Mounds of Memories
The debris that’s collected under bridges and viaducts throughout Ohio County has needed removed for years, and following the flashing flooding, the demand has significantly increased now that thousands of pounds of property were swept away five weeks ago.
The high piles of debris, in fact, have provoked emotion not only from the flood victims but also from those helping to clean the affected areas, according to Campbell.
“I know some of the people who have been working to clear all of the debris and to process it all up at The Highlands has noticed how many photos have been in those piles, and they’ve told me how sad it’s made them,” Campbell said. “It’s made those workers realize what these people have lost in Valley Grove and Triadelphia. It’s made them realize they lost everything.
“It’s been hard for them to see that type of debris,” he said. “And those towns still look terrible, but if you would have seen it when the flash flooding first happened, you would have thought a bomb had gone off. I’ve never been to war, but those towns looked like the war zones I’ve seen in the movies. It was total devastation.”
Campbell reports that while he’s aware the flooding has dumped storage containers, boats, and pieces of campers and trailers along the creeks’ shorelines, he’s aware efforts have been made to remove as much as possible during the past five weeks.
“Fortunately, the people from the Conversation District did do a lot of cleanups in the creeks in the area of Valley Grove and Triadelphia because there was just so much left in them when the waters receded, but there’s still a lot more that’s still in there and along the banks,” he explained. “I know there are storage containers and pieces of things that have remained in Wheeling Creek, and there’s still some things further.
“And who knows what is left in the river,” Campbell said with raised eyebrows. “We know a lot made it to the Ohio River and further down, and that includes a couple of the victims of this tragedy. It’s hard to tell what’s resting down on the bottom now.”
“Dredging” is a curse word to environments because of the negative impacts the work has on the waterway’s ecosystems, but Campbell is aware of a statewide conversation that’s taking place thanks to W.Va. Gov. Patrick Morrissey.
“Dredging the creeks is a tough issue,” Campbell said. “There’s been some talk about it, and it’s definitely needed in a lot of areas, but there are a lot of trees near the bridges and silt and rocks have moved and piled up, and that can cause issues in the future. There’s been a lot of debris that’s been removed, but there’s more and we’re hopeful that happens in the near future.
“We’ve been told Gov. Morrissey is trying to get legislation passed so a lot of that debris can be removed without causing any issues or breaking any laws or regulations, but I can tell you that right now someone is not allowed to remove even a rock from our creeks and streams,” he explained. “That flooding moved a lot of stuff from one place to another, and there’s a lot of area that need cleaned up, that’s for sure, but the only way that happens is through legislation.”
Tough Questions
Coulda. Woulda. Shoulda.
The first question is simple: Could something – anything – have altered the realities of this tragic disaster?
The National Weather Service sent a Flash Flood Warning to residents in Ohio County and surrounding areas, but, according to former Triadelphia mayor Ken Murphy, “Nothing could have prepared us for what happened that night.
“When the warning came through on our phones, the water came rushing in not long after and there was nothing anyone could have done,” he said. “It didn’t rain that hard where I live in Triadelphia so I don’t think anyone thought there was a risk. I live across the street from Bleifus Tire, and all me and the wife could do was sit on our front porch and watch things float by on (Little Wheeling) creek.”
Campbell has heard much the same from many who witnessed the natural disaster, but conversations are still taking place.
“Lou (Vargo) and I have talked about what changes we could make to provide more of warning. We do have warnings in place but we fear that some may suffer from what we call the ‘cry wolf syndrome’. After a while they have a tendency to start ignoring those alarms” Campbell said. “We don’t want that to happen. We want to try to figure out what type of system we could get that’s going to be the most efficient and the quickest acting.
“In this case, it was quick, so I’m not sure any alert system would have prepared the people in Valley Grove and Triadelphia for what happened to them on June 14th,” he added. “And it’s going to be a long rebuilding process, but thankfully, FEMA will be able to help a lot of those folks as this process continues. Getting back to normal is going to take a lot of time, but the ones who can rebuild will get there.”
(Several photos provided by Tony Campbell, assistant director of the Ohio County EMA.)
