Flood Victims Need Our Help
Ohio Valley residents know all about devastating killer floods. In June 1990, 26 lives were claimed by flash flooding on Wegee and Pipe creeks in Belmont County. Just a few years before, in 1985, local residents pitched in to help victims of flooding that took 38 lives in West Virginia’s mountain counties.
So we have some idea of what people in eight West Virginia counties are going through now.
Some officials in those counties, with Greenbrier the hardest hit, are referring to what happened Thursday night as “a thousand-year flood.” It was that bad.
Already it is known 23 people were killed by the raging waters. The death toll may rise. Hundreds of homes and businesses were destroyed. It will take years for some areas to get back to normal.
Stories of terror and heroism have emerged from the flooded area. They make it clear local people already have done what was most important. They have gone into the muddy, rushing water themselves to rescue those who could be saved.
Now the question arises, what next?
Of course, President Barack Obama should declare the affected counties a disaster area and provide all the assistance, both short- and long-term, the federal government can give.
Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin should make helping flood victims the state’s top priority. If emergency funding is needed, he should call legislators back into a special session to appropriate money. That ought to require a session lasting about five minutes.
What can we do? For now, respond to requests for help, to the best of our ability. Local charities will be involved. They will need our support both now and in the months to come.
We know what they’re going through in the flooded counties. We’ve been there ourselves — and that means we’re ready to do all we can to help.
COMMENTS