Overnight flooding causes community concern

OAK HILL, WV (WOAY) – Many lower elevation areas throughout parts of southern West Virginia have once again caught the worst of the flooding.

Residents in places such as Pax and Minden woke up to the familiar sight of water-logged yards and over-flowing creeks around their properties after last night’s rainfall. But apparently, this most recent rainfall hasn’t even come close to the difficulties residents in these areas have faced in the past due to the weather.
“Just a couple of weeks ago, it flooded so bad up the road a tree knocked down and fell on the power line and caught fire, and everybody’s power was out. You couldn’t go underneath it because the road was flooded,” says one Pax resident.
However, many residents of Minden say these flooding problems and dangers go way beyond the effects of heavy rainfall in this lower-elevation area.
“Where that creek is so dammed up it only takes a little thunderstorm and all of a sudden, we got two creeks,” says Minden resident Darrell Thomas.
One former Minden resident says the flooding has been an issue there for a long time, but it has gotten worse over the years as a result of trash buildup and a serious lack of drainage.  He says the solution to the flooding could be as simple as the community stepping in and taking the time to clean out the pipes and ditches in the area.
“It’s just things that have been ignored. If the creek was straight, dredged out, and the ditches and culverts were cleaned out, I believe, the flooding you had this morning, you would not have,” Billie Legg says.
So, although flooding is ultimately out of our control, there are various clean-up projects and preparations we can make to somewhat help mitigate some of the potentials for more flooding that will inevitably come if we don’t.
Sponsored Content