Eight-year-old is swept to his death after mother loses grip in worst floods for century
At least 23 people are killed as more than a quarter of US state’s annual rain falls in seven hours
RESCUE workers and soldiers were searching yesterday for survivors in the US state of West Virginia after the worst flooding in more than a century killed at least 23 people, including an eight-year-old boy.
More than a quarter of the state’s annual rainfall fell in just seven hours on Thursday, causing rivers and streams to overflow and trapping hundreds in their homes.
Dozens of people had to be plucked off rooftops as waters quickly rose during the deluge, while more than 500 people were stranded for 24 hours in a shopping centre after a bridge washed away.
As authorities tried to make their way through scenes of devastation, the governor’s office in the economically depressed state said it believed there were people still missing in the worst hit area of Greenbrier County.
Chris Stadelman, Governor Earl Ray Tomblin’s chief of staff, said: “The reports we got this morning are that Greenbrier County may still have some folks unaccounted for. It does not appear there are unaccounted for people in other counties, but it’s still a somewhat fluid situation.”
Greenbrier County Sheriff Jan Cahill described “complete chaos”. He said: “Roads destroyed, bridges out, homes burned down, washed off foundations, multiple sections of highway just missing, pavement just peeled off like a banana – I’ve never seen anything like that.”
Amid the deluge, eight-year-old Emmanuel “Manny” Williams slipped, fell into a creek and was swept away. The boy’s mother attempted to save him but lost her grip on the child, according to Harry Croft, pastor at Marwin Church of the Nazarene at Wheeling. Manny’s mother told him that she was walking across the creek with her son and daughter because Manny wanted to catch crayfish. One of the children slipped, and the mother grabbed both the boy and his sister in the swift current. “She lost her grip on Manny,” the pastor said. The child’s body was found about half a mile from where the family lives.
One local news station posted a video showing a house in flames being carried away by muddy floodwaters in the small city of White Sulphur Springs.
One series of photos showed a man in chest-high water using a rock to smash the windows of a car whose occupants were trapped inside.
The luxury Greenbrier Sporting Club, which is due to host the PGA Tour events starting on July 4, was under water yesterday. The professional golfer Bubba Watson, who had been staying at the resort, tweeted a picture of holes on the course completely under water, with the message: “Prayers for The Greenbrier & surrounding areas. We are without power & it’s still raining. Never seen this much rain!”
White Sulphur Springs, a poor neighbourhood made up mostly of temporary homes, was hardest hit. Rescue crews were going door-to-door to check on residents, a painstaking task that could stretch into the weekend. Once a residence was checked, a red or orange “X” was marked on the home.
Resident Karol Dunford had to be plucked from the destroyed trailer where she had lived for over 30 years.
As the deluge swamped her neighbourhood on Thursday evening, Mrs Dunford, 71, sat immobile in her wheelchair in her living room and screamed for help for hours, worried no one would find her. She was rescued in the middle of the night, just as the water started to reach her shoulders.
Early reports indicate about nine inches of rain damaged or destroyed more than 100 homes and knocked out power to tens of thousands of others, Governor Tomblin said. He declared a state of emergency in 44 of 55 counties and deployed 200 members of the West Virginia National Guard.