photo by: Eric Ayres

Wooden crosses outside the Triadelphia United Methodist Church – each representing a victim of the deadly June 14 flood that ravaged the community – remain in place six months later, with some decorated for the holiday.

VALLEY GROVE — Six months after flooding devastated the communities of Triadelphia and Valley Grove, the emotional scars for those who have lived through the trauma of the natural disaster are still healing.

Members of the community came together this past weekend to share their stories and to offer one another support as the first holiday season since the flood occurred is underway, and what may likely be the toughest year of many of their lives is coming to a close.

A community gathering took place on Saturday afternoon at the Valley Grove Volunteer Fire Department. Organized by the Ohio County Family Resource Network and Friends and Families Organizing, a new local nonprofit that was formed by survivors of the flood, the gathering offered fellowship from others who have been impacted by the disaster and professional support from a licensed therapist, as well.

Ohio County FRN Executive Director Claudia McKay said she and community organizer Amy Jo Hutchison wanted to offer something to the public as the holidays arrive and the six-month anniversary of the deadly June 14 flood has been reached.

They wanted someone experienced in trauma to help guide the discussion, and Veronica Reynolds, a licensed therapist, volunteered her time to do that.

“Their community is different this Christmas. Their community is different six months after,” McKay said. “The six months compounded with the first holiday after this type of natural disaster can really be difficult, as well. People are still in need of rebuilding. Many cases are still being processed.

Recovering from a flood is not going to be six months. It’s going to take years to truly rebuild.”

McKay said dealing with the deadly and disastrous flooding is stressful enough. Since then, the financial burdens, cleanup, paperwork and seemingly endless amount of labor adds another layer of stress. Those impacted by the flood have been dealing with insurance companies, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, various organizations and other red tape throughout the second half of this year.

“There are so many layers to go through,” McKay said. “We’re all trying to navigate chaos, trying to figure out if certain organizations are legitimate and just navigating through the bureaucracy.”

McKay noted that although the dominating headlines about the disastrous flood have receded, people in the community are still ready and willing to provide assistance.

“In Valley Grove and Triadelphia, there’s just no hesitation from either community in helping whenever there’s a need for it,” she said. “The closeness of this community just continues to shine through time and time again.”

McKay said she recently worked with Wheeling Island Hotel-Casino-Racetrack, which has been undergoing a remodel of their hotel. A lot of the old furniture has been made available to residents impacted by the flood who still need to put their homes back together.

The stretch of Valley Grove and Triadelphia along Little Wheeling Creek on National Road was left in a trail of destruction after the June flash flood, which eventually was deemed a federal disaster. Nine people lost their lives in the flood, residents throughout the community had their homes either damaged or completely destroyed.

Today, the drive along National Road through these communities is much different than it was six months ago. The appearance of the neighborhoods has improved dramatically. Yet, a closer look reveals evidence of the disaster — with abandoned houses, remnants of creekside debris, demolished vehicles and scarred infrastructure offering a reminder of what happened there.

photo by: Eric Ayres

Susie and Doug Nelson of Valley Grove attend a community gathering Saturday at the Valley Grove Volunteer Fire Department of residents who were impacted by the disastrous June flood.

Those physical scars are accompanied by emotional scars that linger, as well, some residents admit. Saturday’s event offered an opportunity for people to share their stories and to unload the weight on their minds that the experience still carries.

“I have a hard time every time it starts raining,” said Doug Nelson of Valley Grove, noting that when he hears a hard rain, he finds himself out on his porch with an eye on his culvert, which is still in need of repair.

Doug’s wife, Susie, is executive director of the Community Foundation for the Ohio Valley. A community leader who is no stranger to helping others, she found herself on the receiving end of help from dozens of neighbors and even strangers in the days after their home was flooded.

“We had five feet of water in our basement. A lot of people had it into their first floors or had their entire homes washed away,” she said, noting that some lost their loved ones. “We were lucky in that respect. We only lost stuff, and stuff attached to memories, which is sometimes hard to deal with. But it’s just stuff.

“We know that we were lucky. A lot of other people had it a lot worse. ”

Susie Nelson and their children were not home when the flood waters struck Valley Grove, but Doug Nelson was home at the time. As the raging waters rose, he found himself basically trapped there.

“I honestly didn’t know if I was going to get out of there,” Doug Nelson said. “I was so glad the kids and my wife were out of town and didn’t have to see the stuff that I was seeing. The water had gotten so high that it blew the basement door in and filled the basement with five feet of water. I was afraid to go back in the house. I slept on the porch for two days.”

He noted that all of the decking had washed off of the bridge that provided access to their property, his wife and kids could not get to the house — where he was — immediately after the flood. There was no electricity, and in the pitch black of night, all that could be heard were eerie sounds of the home heating oil storage tanks and other things shifting around in the water that had filled the basement.

When the water receded, seeing the devastation that was left behind was difficult for many people who lived through it. The Nelsons said a demolished car came to rest in a neighbor’s yard, and search and rescue teams scoured the neighborhood looking for survivors and victims — leaving spray painted “X” on destroyed homes and vehicles that had been checked.

“It was pretty traumatic,” Doug Nelson said.

In the days that followed 30-40 people just showed up, willing to help. Businesses sent crews of people to volunteer. The Nelsons said Lehman’s Landscaping of Powhatan Point brought heavy equipment and manpower to their property. They could not carry heavy equipment across their temporary bridge, so a small skid steer was used to “scoop by scoop” remove what ended up being 28 tons of debris, mud, rocks and everything else the flood left behind on their property.

“It was a huge task for them to do all of that. They made a huge difference,” Doug Nelson said. Although things have been much improved since last June, recovery continues. A tell-tell giveaway revealing the ghosts of the disaster is seeing homes with no curtains, the Nelsons noted. Those homes are likely abandoned and will need to be demolished and removed.

“It looks a lot better, but there are still a lot of remnants. You can still see a lot of the devastation,” Susie Nelson said. We’re still in recovery mode. There are still people calling the United Way. Some of them still need to be mucked out, for whatever reason. It’s probably something that is life changing. The impact is so much that it changes you, changes how you think about your house, your stuff, the neighbors and what’s important. I think there are some therapeutic opportunities when people come together like this to just talk and share what happened to them.”

As people in the community continue to lean on each other for support, a silver lining to the disaster has been the camaraderie, the willingness to help and and sense of community pride that has come in the wake of the floods. And for those who are staying in Triadelphia and Valley Grove despite the monumental challenges, they are doing so because it’s home, the Nelsons noted.

“It’s good to see people I haven’t seen since I was down here getting supplies,” Doug Nelson said. “It’s good just knowing that we’re still here.”