BECKLEY, WV (WOAY) – Beckley firefighters pulled motorists from high water Sunday after heavy rain left vehicles trapped near the intersection of Robert C. Byrd Drive and Ewart Avenue. No one was hurt.
“Our units responded. There was a vehicle submerged in water. The water was actually up over their door handles. It ended up being a couple of handicapped people. And our crews were out and helped them get out of the vehicle and to safety,” said Chris Graham, Captain, Beckley Fire Department.
The intersection has taken on water since the road was built, according to Jeremiah Johnson, General Manager of the Beckley Sanitary Board.
“That road was built like in the early 1950s. Way back when, they filled the stream and built a road over top of it, all of the development in town there. So essentially, there’s not enough pipes underneath the roadway to carry water out of that intersection,” Johnson said.
Johnson said the Sanitary Board is pursuing a permanent solution with federal money.
“The Sanitary Board has a congressional earmark through Senator Capito’s office in D.C. to basically provide the funding through FEMA to complete, at this point, the engineering design for what ultimately hopefully will be the fix, which would be to put bigger pipes, bigger channel in there that would take the water to the Little Whitestick Creek,” he said.
The Thrasher Group is surveying the site. Johnson said construction funding cannot be assembled until that design work is finished.
“I would say probably within the next 12 months, they will have recommendations back to us, and then the next phase will be basically assembling funding, which takes time, because it’s going to be a multimillion dollar fix down there,” Johnson said.
Until the work is done, the fire department is urging drivers not to attempt any flooded roadway.
“It’s very dangerous, because you don’t know if that roadway has been washed out from under that water. And that’s something that can happen. And next thing you know, you’re sinking into a hole or getting swept away,” Graham said.
Drivers caught in rising water should not stay with the vehicle, he said.
“If at all possible, just get out of the vehicle and get to safety if you can. You know, here in Beckley, we’re lucky, usually it’s just standing water. But we’re in an area where swift water, your vehicles can get tossed away, and you don’t want to be trapped inside of it,” Graham said.
