Ground broken to replace WVa high school destroyed by floods

ELKVIEW, W.Va. (AP) — Ground has been broken for a new West Virginia high school to replace one destroyed by 2016 floods.

Gov. Jim Justice attended the ceremony Wednesday for the new Herbert Hoover High School in Elkview about 13 miles (21 kilometers) northeast of Charleston, news outlets reported.

Herbert Hoover students have attended school in portable classrooms near a middle school since the June 2016 floods. The Elk River rose 10 feet high (3 meters high) in some buildings, destroying bridges and ripping homes from their foundations. Six people in Kanawha County died, and 23 were killed statewide.

The old high school was torn down last year. The new school is expected to open in fall 2022.

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Kassie Simmons
Kassie Simmons joined the team in January 2019 as a weekend journalist. She graduated from Virginia Tech in just two and a half years with a BA in multimedia journalism. During her short time at Virginia Tech, she served as the editor for the university’s chapter of The Tab. Kassie was named the top reporter for The Tab at Virginia Tech on multiple occasions and made the list for the top 30 reporters for The Tab in the U.S. She also studied theater performance and minored in creative writing. Before coming to WOAY, Kassie interned at WSLS in Roanoke and the Tidewater Review in her hometown of West Point, Va. She has loved following breaking news since her childhood and has a passion for delivering the stories people care most about. Kassie is excited to be working in Southern West Virginia and looks forward to all the adventures ahead of her. You can follow her on Twitter at @KassieLSimmons and like her page on Facebook. If you have a story you think she should check out, send her an email at ksimmons@woay.com.