Triadelphia Residents Continue Clean-up After Weekend Flooding
Trending
WHEELING -- Ohio County officials took action Tuesday to help dozens of Triadelphia residents recover after three severe storms hit the area in about a seven-hour span Saturday night.
Within about a 10-minute period during the second heavy rainfall Saturday night, water was already backing up onto National Road in Triadelphia, causing nearly 40 of the community's residents to sustain heavy flooding, according to Mayor Kenneth Murphy.
Damaged furniture and household items lined Midway Street and the neighborhood known as the “Pickle Patch” as neighbors cleaned out their homes Tuesday. Ohio County Commission President Tim McCormick said the county had originally asked the West Virginia National Guard to assist with the cleanup efforts, but officials decided to have county crews perform the work instead.
McCormick met with Murphy in an effort to see what assistance the county could provide the town. Murphy said he believes about 40 of the town's residents were directly affected by flooding over the weekend, but he doesn't believe any of those residents are still displaced from their homes.
Murphy said the flooding got so bad Saturday night that several residents on Midway Street had to be evacuated from their homes with the assistance of firefighters from Traidelphia, Valley Grove and Stone Church volunteer fire departments.
"They came out and got those people out. I don't know how they did it. But they did it, and they did a real good job," Murphy explained while talking about evacuation efforts.
"A lot of debris from the creek, it just backed up and flooded our people. There's nothing we could do about it," Murphy said. "We're down working in an area known as the 'Pickle Patch.' We got two of our people down there now cleaning all the mud and everything off the streets."
He said county crews would help to haul away the damaged items and trash.
"In a small community like this the people just step up, and it's unbelievable. … Nobody backed away from this. Everybody ran toward it, and that says a lot for the community," he added.
McCormick said he stopped out to visit with Murphy to see if there was anything county officials could do to help support the town following the weekend flooding.
"Small communities like this can't afford these types of situations so we thought we would try to help out any way we could," McCormick said.
He said the local fire departments have already provided much-needed assistance in both the evacuation and clean-up efforts and helped to solve a lot of the initial problems associated with the flooding.
"They all came in and did an outstanding job. And they're all to be thanked a great deal," McCormick said.
He said the county's emergency services is also assisting with providing affected residents with "clean-up kits," in an effort to help get their homes back in order.
Midway Street resident William Lewis said most of the dozen homes located along Midway Street received water in their basements once the nearby creek overflowed its banks.
"It all got trashed, because it got too much water damage," Lewis said, while referring to damaged items he was moving into his driveway near the edge of the road.
Lewis said he is also cleaning and disinfecting his home while in the process of clearing out the damaged items.
Resident Jill Gray said it didn't take long for water to cover her feet on the sidewalk in front of her Midway Street home once the creek began to rise Saturday night.
"It was like the whole creek, it came up quick," Gray said. "We got lucky, because we don't have a basement … but we got a little bit of water in the garage."