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March Comes in Like  A Lion in Ohio Valley

Communities cleaning up after storm

Residents living along sections of Glen Haven Avenue and Lindy Lane found their streets flooded with water from Little Grave Creek in Glen Dale Wednesday morning.

MOUNDSVILLE — An early dismissal from Marshall County’s schools was just one of the issues facing Marshall County Wednesday, as heavy rainfall flooded many areas and closed part or all of several roads.

Heavy rain Tuesday night and Wednesday morning caused several storm sewers in Marshall County to back up, and caused many low-lying properties in the area to flood, including Kudlak Inc. Campgrounds, the Marshall County Fairgrounds and most athletic fields at John Marshall High School. In addition, mudslides also closed lanes in the hilly regions of the county.

Moundsville Police Department Cpl. Rob Wolfe said much of the city’s time Wednesday morning was spent managing the immediate aftermath of the flooding — replacing displaced manhole covers, ensuring bridges remained clear of debris and other maintenance.

“The storm sewers kind of get overwhelmed whenever we have a deluge like we have. … On Ash Avenue, one of the bridges has had some debris clogging it and getting it all backed up,” Wolfe said. “The baseball fields are flooded and those are all closed off to the public. It’s just the way the land lays, it breaks the banks easily.”

Wolfe said the city had been made aware of the impending storm through weather alerts and took pre-emptive action to prevent major problems. At Kudlak’s, only a few trailers remained in place by late Wednesday morning, as the water rose to meet the bottom of the structures.

“We enforce the regular laws, not the laws of nature,” Wolfe said. “So when nature comes for us, we just try to get people in safe areas.”

Meanwhile, along Fork Ridge Road, the heavy rain led to a mudslide less than a half-mile north of Moundsville, downing a small tree and closing one lane of the road. Across the county, backup in creeks and streams resulted in many roads being covered with gravel, branches and other debris, requiring the intervention of the West Virginia Division of Highways.

The rain caused widespread flooding across the county, impacting numerous homes in the Little Grave Creek area near Glen Dale, down to Fish Creek and beyond. Director of Emergency Management Tom Hart said the situation could have been much worse if the storm had continued into the evening as predicted.

“Around 7 a.m., the weather was really bad. We just kept getting hit by band after band of storms,” Hart said. “Originally, they were saying this was supposed to go on until 7 or 8 o’clock tonight. We’re just lucky the rain let up when it did to give us a little bit of a break.”

Earlier in the day, Marshall County Schools Communications Coordinator Tony Wood said Wednesday morning that a two-hour early dismissal was called by the district after heavy flooding, both from the water posing a hazard and from the resulting road closures.

“Not all buses can complete their routes because of road closures and high water,” Wood said. “If a bus can’t get to a certain stop, a parent will have to pick up their child at the school they attend.”

Wood said despite the severe weather, there were few absences.

In Belmont County, Armstrongs Mills resident Robert Cook has owned his home for 12 years and said Wednesday marked the third time he has had to fight to keep water from inundating his basement.

“I don’t know if I’ll be able to keep up or not,” Cook said early in the afternoon while watching as a hose pumped flood water away from his home. Located at 56930 Captina Drive, the house was surrounded with rain water that had not yet made its way into the raging Captina Creek nearby. Cook’s 9-year-old son, Noah, tromped through the soggy grass, his boots and several inches of his jeans soaked with water.

Cook estimated that five years had passed since flooding in the area had been so severe. Portions of Ohio 148 were closed Wednesday due to water covering the roadway, and many homes in the area had standing water in their yards. One of Cook’s neighbor’s released her dog, since the area where he was tied out was surrounded by water. Flood water also surrounded swimming pools, overtook lawn furniture and could be seen surrounding parked vehicles, some of which were submerged up to their wheel wells.

Cook said flooding that occurred after Hurricane Ivan was so severe that he rewired his home in the wake of that storm. Now he has no utility service in his basement, with all electrical wires being housed above ground level.

On Interstate 70 in Belmont County, a driver was injured after losing control of his vehicle while traveling west, said Ohio State Highway Patrol Trooper Ralph Hendershot. The accident occurred at 9:26 a.m. outside of St. Clairsville.

“He was following a semi in the construction zone. The car lost control on the wet road, went off the right side of the road, hit a guardrail, came back onto the road was struck by the semi,” Hendershot said.

Hendershot said the driver of the car was transported first to Wheeling Hospital and then to a Pittsburgh hospital.

This same accident caused traffic to back up on I-70, resulting in another accident. Trooper T.J. White said a man came upon the backed up traffic and could not stop his vehicle in time, and ran off the road into the median. He was not injured.

Meanwhile, drivers on secondary roads also were dealing with flooding onto roadways, such as Pipe Creek near Glencoe. Pictures posted on social media in that area show the roadway was completely covered.

Meanwhile, drivers using U.S. 40 in the Brookside and Blaine areas were forced to drive through ponding water running onto the roadway from soaked hillsides. The water was coming so fast drains along the road were overwhelmed and could not keep up.

Jennifer Compston-Strough contributed to this report.

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