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    Flooding
May 5, 2009

Flooding hits parts of Marion County

Some local roads closed

By J. Miles Layton

FAIRMONT — A flood warning was in effect in Marion County on Monday.

About 20 homes had to be temporarily evacuated when a dam broke in the Farmington area.

Roads covered with muddy water were temporarily closed throughout the county.

Carolyn Ledsome, director of Marion County Central Communication 911, said no emergency personnel or civilians were injured during the flooding.

Ledsome said a private dam about 200-feet wide, 500-feet long and 15- to 20-feet deep broke near Farmington during the early afternoon hours. She said 20 houses had to be evacuated in the Bethel Run area for a few hours until the water could be redirected so people could return to their homes.

Route 250 outside Barrackville was closed for several hours because of flooding. When emergency personnel stopped a fully loaded 18-wheeler log truck around 1:30 p.m. at the intersection of Route 250 and Pike Street, a sea of cars lined up behind the enormous truck. With scant room to maneuver, the truck driver skillfully negotiated part of a three-point turn to allow enough room for motorists to pass around the truck so as to be redirected away from the high water.

Lt. Jeff Malick of the Barrackville Volunteer Fire Department advised people to pay heed to the warning signs posted along the roads. Malick said based on contact he had with area fire departments, there were numerous calls for people who got stranded by ignoring the warning signs and trying to navigate through the high water.

“When the signs are up saying the roads are closed or high water, people need to find an alternate route for their safety,” he said. “We are not trying to inconvenience anyone by putting up these signs. When the water is up like that, you don’t know how deep it is or if the asphalt has eroded away. It can be dangerous.”

Rivesville Mayor Tammie Crites said because there was flooding under the railroad trestle that crosses Route 19, traffic had to be redirected up Clayton Street by the power station and the fire department, and back onto Main Street.

“I’d say it was a couple of feet at its deepest part, but this is a low area where flooding has always been an issue,” she said.

Crites said Marion County’s Paw Paw Fairgrounds was closed due to high water along Route 19. Hawkinberry Hollow — which commonly floods during the rainy season — had not flooded as of presstime.

“These are our two low spots in town,” she said. “If we were to flood, this would be where it would happen. We are keeping our fingers crossed. We are optimistic flooding won’t be an issue.”

As some major roads closed throughout the county, many motorists were forced onto narrow side streets that wrapped around the hills. In one instance, several cars and trucks followed each other in the area outside Barrackville to a narrow bridge near Owens Hill Road across from some railroad tracks where a train was slowly moving toward Fairmont. When the train stopped, the people caught in the traffic jam turned their cars off. The road was too narrow for any motorist to make a three-point turn, so there was nothing to do but wait.

Ledsome said when the water started receding about 1:30 p.m. — a good sign.

“Right now, we are expecting the rain to stop and the water recede,” she said.

Andy Mussoline, accurate.com meteorologist, said since last Friday, there has been 3.6 inches of rain — far above the average for this time of year. He said the West Fork River outside Clarksburg had exceeded its flood stage as did the Monongahela River outside Fairmont, Enterprise and Worthington.

Except for a few spot showers, Mussoline said, excessive rainfall will cease this week though true sunshine is not in the cards.

“We have a little bit longer to wait for the good weather,” he said.

E-mail Miles Layton at mlayton@timeswv.com.

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