In northern West Virginia, a sudden deluge triggered flash floods that claimed the lives of five individuals and left rescue teams searching for three others on Sunday. The intense rainstorm also caused significant damage to roads, bridges, natural gas lines, and various infrastructures.
Precipitation levels reached between 2.5 to 4 inches in areas around Wheeling and Ohio County in roughly half an hour on Saturday night. During a news conference, Lou Vargo, the emergency management director of Ohio County, reported, “We almost immediately started getting 911 calls for rescue of people being trapped.” The intense weather led to substantial damage to roads and bridges, complicating rescue responses and delaying emergency efforts. According to Vargo, the incident was unprecedented in his 35 years of experience.
Vehicles were carried away into swollen streams, and some residents resorted to climbing trees for safety. A mobile home was also reported to have caught fire. Marion County faced similar fast-paced flooding on Sunday afternoon, resulting in widespread damage to infrastructure, including bridges and roads, affecting numerous homes. As this situation developed, the county’s emergency services handled over 165 emergency calls.
Responding to the unfolding disaster, Governor Patrick Morrisey issued a state of emergency for Marion County on Sunday evening. Wheeling’s Fire Chief, Jim Blazier, detailed how rescue crews remained active through Sunday morning, focusing their operations along the Ohio River to Wheeling Creek, searching along riverbanks and submerged debris for any signs of missing persons. Teams employed drones, search dogs, and personnel trained in swift water rescue to aid the search efforts.
Power outages affected approximately 2,500 residents across the county. Governor Morrisey announced the death count had risen to five, with three others still unaccounted for, during a press briefing. He further declared a state of emergency in Ohio County, enlisting the National Guard to assist with ongoing emergency operations. Morrisey spoke to the exceptional nature of the storm, calling it a “unicorn event” due to the intensity and focused nature of the rainfall, noting that managing such conditions presents significant challenges.
Emphasizing the urgency of the situation, he said, “Your friends, your neighbors, your first responders, and people in the community are working very hard to find people. That’s our No. 1 task right now, trying to identify anyone who may still be out there.”
This flooding in West Virginia follows devastating rains in San Antonio earlier that week, which led to 13 fatalities. There, over 7 inches of rain fell within mere hours, resulting in rapidly rising floodwaters that swept away multiple vehicles into creeks.