WOAY-TV (Oak Hill, WV): While flooding in our southern coalfields is subsiding, expect the New River to continue to rise.
The Flood Warnings in Tazewell and Mercer County have expired. Those rivers are receding below flood stage. However, the New River will slowly rise early this week and then peak on Wednesday below action stage or flood stage and then slowly recede. For those of you who use the New River for whitewater rafting, keep in mind the waters are going to be very dangerous through the middle part of the week.
The reason for the ongoing rise in the New River level is because 6 to 12 inches of rain accumulated last week where the New River headwaters begin in western North Carolina. Many of you have heard already the reports of Asheville basically isolated from the rest of the world because of the catastrophic flooding in western North Carolina.
The other river used for recreational purposes, the Gauley River, is continuing to decline, but it never went out of its banks.
HILLSBORO TORNADO UPDATE: The National Weather Service in Charleston confirmed an EF-U (Unknown on the scale) touched down in Hillsboro on Wednesday. The reason for this ranking– emergency managers say the tornado moved through a couple of pastures but produced no damage.
