2016 Richwood Flood - Inside Appalachia

you you but Friday afternoon most of the water in Richwood in Nicholas County had receded and people needed help oh okay all right I'm off mutters yeah Carol home says this is the second time that her home of 20 years has flooded in Ridgewood I'm 75 years old I've never experienced this in my whole life it's rough about cry myself to death Carol home says this is the second time that her home of 20 years has flooded in Ridgewood well I was sitting in it rocking chair I had to to go and I was talking on the phone my grandson and I said it is really raining here Michael and my other son came out he took my month and here I have a stone wall all around my house he may just run right overtop the wall some great big car as it goes on factors and everything what's the floating gun in my yard had a big beautiful garden he's all gone things are a little hectic at City Hall the day after waters ravaged to the former logging town volunteers are passing out goods while officials stack water in the hallway and foot traffic of residents is steady outside emergency officials set up generators and hoist flood lights to prepare for the evening like so many places across the state the town of Richwood was left without water electricity and even phone lines what once were treasured belongings are now piles of trash waiting for the dump while sitting in the driveway residents say water came gushing into the valley from the mountains turning over fences and leaving a thick layer of mud on everything the water carried debris through alleys and even rushed into the Nicholas County nursing and rehabilitation center probably within 15 minutes it had climbed to the point that it was entering air conditioners the sandbags were just no longer useful at that point so then it became an organization effort of getting people lined up on hallways and making sure that they're ready to evacuate and shortly after that it reached points if you can see the wood behind me at one point it was overtop of that wooden finn's there Alan Rose volunteered to help evacuate 97 residents from the nursing home many of them in wheelchairs or immobile some of these people had to be strapped to their wheelchair for their own safety there it was a rough situation you know on a regular day these people they're able to live just like anyone else but many of them are immobilized from the waist down or partial immobilization some stroke patients recovering at the facility and they just don't have the ability to to ambulate on their own so those are the people that we had to take the the most precaution with and and give them the personal care they needed to get him out of here many people were panicked about water some people spoke about childhood memories of floods at the past many people the biggest complaint was I can't swim yeah the nursing home evacuation happened before the National Guard arrived JD estep was one of the workers who helped with the evacuation I have never been more proud to be a mountaineer or a citizen in West Virginia than I was in the middle of that disaster I people opened their yards their homes wherever we could put residents that's where they put them they were out there helping us getting them across the road doing whatever we could do to get them out of that water it was horrifying and incredible the nursing home is just one landmark in town that was saturated by rushing floodwaters on June 23rd the Little League field that was just updated a couple of years ago was also underwater rich waters as they called themselves are no stranger to flooding according to a website called rich waters calm in 1954 a flood washed away cars damaged homes and businesses they called it the super flood breaking up the badly that I didn't know where they were going to be able to help us the images from 1954 are similar to the June 2000 third flood but word spread much faster in 2016 thanks to the internet and social media former councilman Jeremy Rose was quick to take a few pictures and post to his Facebook page the picture showed floodwaters blanketing the town of Ridgewood even covering the high school football field the town is still recovering from a flood that hit in 2003 it's rough to recover with limited resources I think that the citizens of rich would want to rebuild I think most of the people here yearn to see this town not just fighting the current keep its head above water but as the citizenry do not have control of our own economy the largest employers are not anybody located in Richwood Estep says younger residents in Ridgewood were working to revitalize the community before the June 23rd flood but says the process has been frustrating we have all the desire and none of the power we have all of the will and none of the ability and it is crushing especially for young people in a town accounting a state that is struggling to retain young people those that have got theirs and are where they like to be it's not their problem they're fine we're struggling we're struggling now even more than we ever have but we're powerless to do anything about it and like so many other places in the state the economy here was a challenge even before the flood still estep says there is a bond that comes with being a West Virginian that you just can't get anywhere else that's you can't buy that you can have all the money in the world and if your neighbors aren't gonna help you then you're up literally up a creek and for folks like Carol Holmes she wouldn't live anywhere else but rich would but I'm still here my kids are still here that's all matters for West Virginia public broadcasting I'm Jessica Lily in Ridgewood you

Channel: West Virginia Public Broadcasting

Views: 43,436

Rating: 4.7362638 out of 5

Keywords: WVFlood, Inside Appalachia, Richwood, Flood, Disaster

Id: wC7Jj110xnQ

Length: 8min 44sec (524 seconds)

Published: Thu Jun 30 2016