Submerged car yields tragic find: Dead baby

Mother tried to drive through floodwaters

The body of an infant was found in a submerged car Friday in southern West Virginia after floodwaters swept through the state, authorities said.

The flooding came amid a string of thunderstorms that inundated the South and dumped nearly 3 inches of rain in parts of West Virginia. Thunderstorms on Friday threatened the Florida Panhandle to the North Carolina coast, National Weather Service forecaster Bob Oravec said.

A woman called 911 saying that her car was stuck in high water in the Fayette County town of Pax and she couldn’t find the baby. Sheriff Mike Fridley said in a statement Friday that the vehicle was found submerged with the 11-week-old boy inside.

Investigators determined the woman misjudged the water’s depth and drove into the road until she realized it was too deep. She then attempted to remove the baby but the vehicle was swept away.

The area in which the vehicle was recovered had water as deep as 18 feet. Visibility in the water was near zero because of muddy conditions, hampering the search. The accident remains under investigation, the statement said.

West Virginia, where towns located along narrow river valleys dot the landscape, is no stranger to devastating floods. In June 2016, 23 people were killed in flooding statewide.

“We cannot stress enough, the importance of not driving through floodwaters,” Fridley said. “Water depth is very hard to judge, as well as it is hard to judge the speed of moving water.”

In Mingo County, along West Virginia’s border with Kentucky and Virginia, a mudslide knocked over a few train cars loaded with coal, the county emergency services office said.

The mudslide was caused by the failure of a sediment ditch berm at a coal mining operation run by Coalmac LLC, state Department of Environmental Protection spokesperson Terry Fletcher said in an email.

The mudslide uprooted one home and surrounded another with mud and water, and at least one resident had to be helped from their home. No injuries were reported, and state police were investigating.

The Department of Environmental Protection ordered the coal operator to find temporary housing for affected residents, stabilize and repair the area around the slide and remove mud and debris from the homes, Fletcher said. Equipment has been brought to the site to start the work.

Officials called off school classes in 10 counties in West Virginia. In Kanawha County, the state’s largest, school bus routes were changed or closed because of flooded roads.

In Lincoln County, floodwaters forced about 170 students from three different schools to hunker down Thursday night in an impromptu slumber party.

Community members, stores and churches donated cots, blankets, pillows and other supplies and staff members stayed on site to supervise the students, school officials said.

Sholten Singer The Associated Press High water from heavy rains causes flooding Friday in Huntington, W.VA. The flooding came amid a string of thunderstorms that inundated the South.