Flash Flood in West Virginia, July 31, 1996

Predawn and morning thunderstorms came northeast fromthe Tri State region around Huntington, across centralWest Virginia, toward Elkins. The ground was alreadysaturated from previous rains. Rains of 2 to 4 inchesfell in less than 6 hours across mainly the Pocatalico,Elk, Little Kanawha, and Tygart Valley River basins.Rock Cave measured 3.8 inches, Hacker Valley 3.5 inches,and Spencer had 3.4 inches. Creek flooding was widespread. A federal disaster declaration, the 4th for West Virginiain 1996, was made for Barbour, Braxton, Cabell, Clay, Gilmer,Nicholas, Randolph, Upshur, and Webster Counties.This declaration also included the flooding from the 19th.The following are some of the flood reports. In BraxtonCounty, evacuations were made in the Gassaway and Burnsvillevicinity. A food storage warehouse in Gassaway was flooded.A CSX coal train slipped the flooded tracks near Heaters, spilling its load and narrowly missing a house. In Nicholas County, 10 homes in Birch River had 1 to 3 feet of water inside from eitherthe Birch River or Powells Creek. Crystal Springs was evacuatedin Randolph County. Riffle Creek near Huttonsville turnedinto a 20 foot wide menace, sweeping away the remainder ofa hunting camp that was damaged in the flooding back in May.Residential areas in Hurricane and Teays Valley of PutnamCounty were flooded. Hurricane and Mill Creeks knocked downfences, flooded homes, and blocked roads. In Webster County,the Holly River was over the bridge on Route 20, whileevacuations were made at Replete and along the Back Fork ofthe Elk River. In Clay County, flooding was along Route 16near Big Otter, Clay, and Nebo. In Gilmer County, Cedar Creek was higher than in the November, 85 flood. The postoffice in Cedarville was flooded. Evacuations occurred alongSteer Run. In the aftermath of the flash flooding, river floodingfollowed on the Elk, Buchhannon, and Tygart Valley Rivers,including the Middle Fork. On the Elk, Webster Springsreached 13.8 feet, Clay 21.8 feet, Queen Shoals 20.5feet. Philippi on the Tygart Valley crested at 23.4 feetand the Buckhannon crested at 27.8 feet in Upshur County.Burnsville Lake on the Little Kanawha River reached anelevation of 809.9 feet, which is their record poolelevation behind the dam.