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Moundsville Council Learns Impact of First Round of Flooding

(Photo by Shelley Hanson) Moundsville Councilwoman Judy Hunt, left, poses with Mayor Sara Wood-Shaw after giving her a board book for her coming baby. The book is titled “I love you as big as West Virginia.”

MOUNDSVILLE – Moundsville City Council learned Tuesday the amount of damage the city received from the first round of Ohio River and creek flooding that occurred April 4 in the city.

City Manager Rick Healy said the Moundsville Fire Department is still working to assess the damage from the second round of flooding that happened this past weekend.

During the first flood, 24 structures had water inside of them, while 23 structures had water around them. There were 14 campers moved prior to the flooding, while 15 campers ended up not being moved and had water inside. Twenty motor vehicles ended up being flooded.

Vice Mayor David Wood asked Healy why he believed there were so many campers that were not moved and took on water.

Healy said that everyone in low-lying areas, such as campgrounds, of the city that were anticipated to flood were warned ahead of time.

“The fire department went around with letters written to all the people in the areas we expected to flood and handed those out,” he said. “I don’t think it was a surprise to anyone that it was coming up. I can’t answer why they weren’t moved.”

Councilwoman Judy Hunt inquired as to whether a disaster FEMA declaration was going to be declared. He said after talking last Friday with Tom Hart, director of the Marshall County Emergency Management Agency, he did not believe it would happen.

“There’s not been a declaration yet … We’re keeping track of all of our expenses. We had massive amounts of overtime last week,” Healy said. “We had a lot of vehicle use. We’re keeping track of ours in case there is and we’re advising residents to do the same.”

Healy thanked city employees for the work they did to prepare for the floods and work done during and after.

“I can’t say enough about our city staff, especially our city fire department who put in massive overtime hours to monitor the river, and continued keeping me updated all hours throughout the day and night,” he said. “The Public Works Department, who handles barricades and signage, and once the river started going down the first time started a cleanup until the water started to come back up again. Of course, the police department tried hard to enforce the barricades, which can be difficult.”

He added the parks and recreation employees worked hard to clean up the ballfield and soccer fields and had it hit again by flooding.

“It’s during problematic times that the extra effort shows through,” he said.

Meanwhile, council also conducted a public hearing to “lay the levy” rates for its fiscal year 2024-25 general fund budget that totals $17.2 million. Council is required to hold the public hearing; no one spoke in favor or against. The city is required to include the levy rates, as provided by the Marshall County Assessor’s Office, with its budget annually.

The rates include personal property or Class 1 – 12.500 cents per $100 of the assessed value; real estate or Class 2 – 25.000 cents per $100 of assessed value; Class 4 – 50.000 cents per $100 of assessed value.

Also, Mayor Sara Wood-Shaw announced that she would not be at the May 7 meeting as she either will have already given birth to her first baby or will be in labor. After the meeting, Hunt gave Wood-Shaw a gift for the coming baby, a board book titled “I Love You As Big As West Virginia.”

Starting at $2.99/week.

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