Rain causes low areas to flood

By ROGER ADKINS and BRETT DUNLAP, radkins@newsandsentinel.com bdunlap@newsandsentinel.com
PARKERSBURG — Tornado and flood watches remained in effect Wednesday as rain and thunderstorms caused low-lying areas to flood.

Rain swept through the area Tuesday night and Wednesday morning and more was expected overnight into this morning.

Eric Seymour, meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Charleston, said rough weather Wednesday night was expected to be the last for now.

A tornado watch remained in effect until 1 a.m. today, Seymour said. A flood watch was extended until 4 a.m.

“We have another complex rolling across the area. It’s just south of Parkersburg, but it’s clipping Wood County for certain,” he said.

Seymour said the Parkersburg area had received a total of 2.68 inches of rain since 8 p.m. Monday.

The storm front grazing the area Wednesday night should be the last. “Right now this looks like it may be the last of the complexes that have pelted the area,” Seymour said.

Another storm front was forming, but the storm was not expected to impact the Mid-Ohio Valley.

“That one’s going to be more in the north central Ohio and southwestern Pennsylvania area,” Seymour said. “If we get through tonight, things should improve.”

Temperatures are expected to be high today, Seymour said.

“We’re actually looking for an increase in temperatures, the upper 80s or low 90s. We’re going to feel summer,” he said.

Officials at Wood County Central Telecommunications said there had been no major emergency situations as a result of the weather. Dispatchers said there were several reports of trees falling on power lines, however.

Incidents were reported in the 1600 block of Spring Street, Laurel Creek Road off Old St. Marys Pike and Deans Road.

No power outages have been reported.

Shortly after 10 p.m. Wednesday, a tree fell on a vehicle along West Virginia 21 south of Mineral Wells. No one was injured and the vehicle sustained only a broken windshield.

Blennerhassett Volunteer Fire Department responded to a limb over the railroad tracks along Ohio River Road. Crews with CSX responded to remove the limb from the tracks. Worthington Creek had high water and covered parts of Core Road and Worthington Golf Course.

Schools were closed in Tyler, Doddridge and Ritchie counties because of high waters and flooding conditions. The loss of electricity in the Walton area of Roane County closed Walton Elementary-Middle School. However, all other Roane County schools remained open.

An American Red Cross shelter was set up at noon Wednesday in the senior citizens center in West Union, but no flooded residents from Doddridge County sought shelter there, a county official said. The shelter will reopen if needed, the official said.

Federal Hocking Local School District dismissed some students early Wednesday. Because of rising waters and an impending storm, Amesville Elementary dismissed at 11 a.m. Students from the middle school and high school who rode certain buses were dismissed at 10:10 a.m. and accompanied the elementary students on the buses home.

Gov. Joe Manchin declared a state of emergency in 15 West Virginia counties Wednesday after severe storms blamed for at least one death caused flooding and mudslides that closed numerous roads. The storms dumped several inches of rain and knocked out power to nearly 67,000 customers statewide, officials said.

Manchin’s declaration allows special resources to be directed to affected areas for clearing debris and repairing roads.

The emergency declaration covers Barbour, Doddridge, Gilmer, Harrison, Lewis, Marion, Monongalia, Preston, Randolph, Ritchie, Taylor, Tucker, Tyler, Upshur and Wetzel counties.