High water causing disruptions

Jolene Craig
PARKERSBURG -­ High water is being reported in surrounding counties in the Mid-Ohio Valley where the Red Cross has opened shelters.

There have not been any high water or flooding problems reported in Wood or Washington counties, but outlying counties are reporting water covering roads and getting into homes, officials said.

Katy Sulfridge, emergency services director with the Mid-Ohio Valley Chapter of the American Red Cross, Thursday morning said a shelter was opened in Jackson County at the Silverton Volunteer Fire Department station.

"We have about two people there," Sulfridge said this morning.

The Doddridge County Senior Citizens Center in West Union is a disaster relief shelter, said Marilyn Lynch, disaster services chairman for the Red Cross in central West Virginia. Several people in the shelter last night had left by this morning.

High water also closed schools in Gilmer, Wirt, Ritchie and Calhoun counties today.

High water problems are related to the wet conditions the region has sustained in the past month, said Dave Marsalek, meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Charleston.

"This (flooding) was set up by a pretty wet May that kept everything on the saturated side," Marsalek said.

The 2 to 4 inches received since Monday morning swelled streams and small rivers like the Little Kanawha River.

"The Little Kanawha River is already flooding at Glenville and Grantsville and Elizabeth is expected to reach flood stage today," Marsalek said.

According to reports, at daybreak in downtown Glenville, several feet of water blocked the intersection at Main Street and West Virginia Routes 33 and 119. Route 5 was also underwater in several places between Glenville and Burnsville.

The `Brooklyn' residential area was flooded Wednesday and evening traffic was blocked from entering the area. At midnight there was no water under Glenvilleás only traffic light.

Flood waters rose so quickly that barely more than an hour later there was more than 2 feet. Go Mart, The Common Place Restaurant and Pizza Hut are among the businesses with water damage.

Parkersburg is not expected to have any problems.

The Ohio River at Parkersburg is expected to crest just above 28 feet early Friday morning, according to the National Weather Service in Charleston. Flood stage is 36 feet.