Photo by Eric Ayres What is believed to be the last remaining steel shipping container to be washed into Wheeling Creek during the deadly flood of June 14, 2025, sits along a remote creek bank downstream from Elm Grove near the Interstate 70 eastbound weigh station.

WHEELING – One year after the deadly flood swept through Valley Grove, Triadelphia and parts of Wheeling, the need for cleanup along the creeks still lingers, and plans for improvements along the local waterways continue to move forward to prevent future disasters.

Immediately following the flood of June 14, 2025, a massive cleanup effort began in conjunction with the coordinated task of searching for and recovering individuals who had been reported as missing. More than 75 mangled vehicles, pieces of destroyed homes, large Conex boxes or steel shipping containers, dumpsters, scores of trees and piles of natural debris, personal property and countless truckloads of materials had washed downstream in the raging waters.

In the weeks that followed, the vehicles and most of the larger items were pulled from the creek beds along Little Wheeling Creek in Valley Grove and Triadelphia, and in parts of Wheeling Creek in Elm Grove. A federal disaster was declared, and local and state agencies spearheaded work to clear debris from the waterways. Officials had stressed that the material in the creeks could damage bridges and cause blockages in the event of a hard rain that might potentially bring another dangerous bout of high water.

Although a lot of the debris was removed from the creek beds last summer, some still remained for months. Periodically from August until just recently, officials in the city of Wheeling sought answers as to who was responsible for removing large items such as a shipping container that had been sitting in Wheeling Creek near Elm Grove ever since the flood left it there.

Just last week – one week before the anniversary of the flood – the lingering issue surrounding that particular Conex box was addressed.

“The storage container in Elm Grove was removed last Saturday,” Wheeling City Manager Robert Herron said. “We had reached out to the owner, and they removed it.”

Earlier this spring, city leaders were still working with the Federal Emergency Management Agency and other federal and state agencies to try to pinpoint the best way to address the issue of debris that remained in the creeks.

“We had been debating that with FEMA and both federal and state officials,” Herron said, noting that outside agencies did not want to take responsibility for the removal of the shipping container and other remaining debris in the creeks.

The large steel storage box that sat in the creek near Elm Grove had been loaded with carpet materials, officials indicated.

“We believe there’s one left,” said Wheeling-Ohio County Homeland Security and Emergency Management Agency Director Lou Vargo, noting that local officials are aware of at least one more remaining storage container in the local creeks that still needs to be pulled out. “One was recently removed. It’s the owner’s responsibility.”

The last remaining storage container is in a remote area downstream from Elm Grove in Wheeling Creek. It came to rest along the bank near the Interstate 70 eastbound weigh station. Vargo said it will be difficult to access the box, and whoever removes it will likely have to coordinate a plan with the state to approach it from the area of the weigh station.

This past week, Vargo and other local and state officials took part in a conference call to discuss debris that remains in the creeks and other issues related to the ongoing recovery and remediation. The conference call was coordinated by the West Virginia Conservation Agency.

“The conservation agency came in right after the flood, and they removed hundreds of cubic yards of debris and things out of the creek,” Vargo said. “When they were doing that, they did an assessment of the stream banks and possible restoration projects. Working with the other agencies, they came up with three projects that they recently combined into two.”

Vargo said those two mitigation projects have been funded, and contracts were recently awarded to get them underway this summer.

“They should be working on that now,” he said. “There are actually two stream restoration projects where the banks have been eroded. That is starting during the summer.”

Officials from Triadelphia, the EMA and representatives of the long-term recovery teams were among those who took part in the conference call this past week to get an update on the status of these ongoing efforts.

“There’s still a lot of debris and things like trees that are not obstructing the creek flow, but they are down on the ground along the banks,” Vargo said. “We wanted to get confirmation about the requirements for removing that. Do we need to get permits? They said as long as we don’t have heavy equipment in the creek banks, we don’t have to go through that process.”

A wrecker above the creek bank could pull a tree out with a winch, or crews could go into the creek with chainsaws and cut a tree into pieces to remove it. Vargo said these kinds of efforts would be permissible without navigating red tape through state and federal agencies.

“Basically, we could get a group of volunteers to go in there, and things leftover from the flood could be removed without permits so it’s not as unsightly when you drive up Route 40,” he said. “You can’t take a back hoe into the creek or disturb the creek bank or ecology without permits, studies, etc. The Army Corps of Engineers, Department of Natural Resources – all of those agencies would have to be involved. It would be a long process of getting permits and things to do that.”

But officials stressed that they are aware of the task that remains at hand, and efforts are moving forward to bring improvements. They are expected to continue long after the one-year anniversary of the deadly flood is observed.

“There’s still cleanup to go,” Vargo said. “Our long-term recovery team is still working. We have, I believe, 23 open cases. There are smaller cases, but we hope to get those done within the next few weeks.”

Vargo said requests for assistance are still coming in as residents of flood-impacted areas continue to rebuild their homes and rebuild their lives in the wake of the disaster.

“As people are building and recovering from the flood, things come up that are flood-related,” he said, noting that a few new requests for help came up just this past week, and they are being addressed. “Habitat for Humanity is finishing one house in Triadelphia, and I think there are hopes that they can have a second house built for people who lost their homes.”