Flooding Closes Some W. Virginia Schools

Some southern West Virginia schools won’t be able to reopen this year because of damage from last week’s deadly floods, officials said Monday.

Floods and mudslides caused by torrential rainfall were blamed for at least six deaths in West Virginia and two in Virginia. Six people were still missing Monday in West Virginia, and one man was unaccounted for in Kentucky.

Damages continued to mount Monday as residents braced for more rain this week. The National Weather Service said flooding was possible today through Thursday.

Preliminary damage estimates released by state emergency officials said about 2,400 homes and businesses in West Virginia’s McDowell, Wyoming, Mercer and Mingo counties were harmed by the flooding.

Near the hard-hit southern West Virginia city of Welch, emergency officials briefly evacuated about 25 residences in a mobile home park Monday because state inspectors believed a reservoir in an industrial park was in danger of failing. Residents were allowed to return before noon, McDowell County officials said.

In addition to more than 500 homes and businesses damaged or destroyed in the area, one elementary school in Supt. Mark Manchin said Monday.

“It’s conceivable we may not get some of these students back this year,” Manchin said by telephone from Iaeger High School, where 4 feet of water rushed into the school Thursday and left 4 inches of mud and muck in classrooms.

“You would not believe the devastation,” Manchin said. “It defies belief. I have never seen anything like it in my life.”

McDowell County schools had been scheduled to close June 4.

Five feet of water rushed through the main hall of Panther Elementary, which has about 160 students, and apparently moved the building off its foundation.

“It’s a total loss and cannot be salvaged,” Manchin said.

Flooding also struck the county last July, killing six people.