Loading ...Remember The Great West Virginia Flood of 1985
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Today is November 4, 2009. The Charleston Gazette (page 1 D) lists this day as The Great West Virginia Flood of 1985. Many locals around here indicate their place didn’t flood until the next day. In either case, it is a sad day in our state’s history and is now referred to as The Great Flood of 1985.
Pocahontas County saw 70 households displaced, 6 bridges affected, 115 homes destroyed, 43 private homes condemned, 311 private homes with major damage, 39 private homes with minor damage, 32 businesses with major damage, 38 businesses with minor damage, 2 public buildings, destroyed, 1 public building condemned, 20 public building with major damage. Such was the case in most of the state. In Pocahontas County five people lost their life in the flood. http://tiny.cc/Flood894
The Greenbrier River in Marlinton is at flood stage at 10 feet. At 1:00 a.m. November 5, 1985 the Greenbrier River crested at 18.5 feet. Buckeye, the same story – flood stage at 10’ and the river crested at 24.7’. Many thought the Town of Marlinton was done for as it was all but washed away. In the book, Pocahontas County Floods written by Craig Smith, Bill McNeel is quoted as giving the National Guard much of the credit for getting the town started on the local road back.
I was not on site during the flooding but lived across the mountains in Mt Jackson Virginia. During my two hour drive back and forth to Alexandria Virginia, the rain was non-stop for days. After hearing of the devastation in the region, friends and I went door to door in our asking for clothes to take to an area church to be brought in to West Virginia. It’s funny the things people part with when they think others are in true need. We collected over a dozen mink coats and jackets, Members Only jackets, Ralph Lauren polo shirts, snake skin shoes, Bill Blass, Anne Klein, Eddie Bauer, and numerous other almost new wear. I suppose when you’re sitting in the middle of the street looking at your house washed off its foundation, you’ll wear anything to keep from freezing. Eventually we collected a small school bus worth of clothes. People living on cul-de-sacs sympathized with people who were homeless, cold, and in shock. Many say it is times like these where we see the best of mankind. Why do we wait until then I wonder.
Nothing that can be said today can alter the past or completely reflect what people in this county went through during the Flood. But it is important that we never forget that time in our history for it is part of us now, part of who we are, and what we have become over the years. Our heart, our sympathy, our admiration go out to those who lived through the disaster, and stayed to reclaim their homeland. Our thoughts are with the families who lost loved ones as a result of the flood.
Bob Teets, Editor and Publisher of “Killing Waters: The Great West Virginia Flood of 1985” says it best in his opening of the book: “There can never be enough written, enough photos taken, enough said about what happened to the people of West Virginia on the night of November 4, 1985. Unprecedented floodwaters swept over a state already burdened with grief from the disasters of Farmington Number Nine Mine, Willow Island, Buffalo Creek, and scores of others. The Great West Virginia Flood of 1985 added to the grief. But as with other calamities, West Virginias faced this catastrophe with courage, dignity, and resolve. And it is to these Mountaineers that we dedicate this book.
Twenty four years later, the Army Corps of Engineers based out of Huntington WV is still “working on the idea of a flood control” along the Greenbrier River in Marlinton. http://proceedings.esri.com/library/userconf/proc00/professional/papers/pap395/p395.htm
My family lived in Ronceverte and was affected by it on NOvember 5. I lived in Roanoke, VA at the time and was rescued from Willow River Apts in Salem, VA by a canoe in thigh deep water from my 2nd floor apartment. It took a long time for them to get to us and then they did NOT want to take my roommates dog, “ShaBoo”. I told them,”she’s the closest thing to family I have if you want me to go you take her.” The girl and her cat who lived on first floor of our building was forced out of their apartment when the wall of water came busting thru the patio door. She got out in her sweat clothes and her cat “nala” on her head. She stayed with me in my apartment until we were rescued. Nala and ShaBoo were great together. Neither were fans of the other species. SOme twenty five years later I am still affected by it. When our Greenbrier River floods I get very distressed very fast. it just comes flooding back. I have never actually looked at the pictures of the flood which are devastating & I am always interested in this even. thanks for your story.