Bluefield Daily Telegraph, Bluefield, WV
June 25, 2010
Flood worries linger in McDowell
By BILL ARCHER
Bluefield Daily Telegraph
— WELCH — “Every time it rains, people in McDowell County stare into the sky and start worrying,” Delegate Clif Moore, D-McDowell said. “Most people have spent endless hours cleaning up their property from the floods that came through here on June 13, but when they see it rain again it’s a reminder of what happened in 2001 and 2002.”
Moore, who also serves as McDowell County manager, said that the county commission discussed the issue of helping McDowell County flood victims during the commission meeting Thursday morning. “I have written a letter to the governor, asking him to establish some kind of body — a commission or other kind of body — that is fully funded, has investigative powers and authority to take action after investigating the causes of these floods.
“If you drive by and see some of the areas that were hit the hardest, you will see that people are working to get their lives back together, but when it rains again, they look up and start worrying all over again,” Moore said. “I think it’s a residual effect of the flooding.”
Kendrick King, commission attorney said the commission is examining all possibilities of helping flood victims. “Some of these families were hit hard in the first two floods, but wiped out in this flood,” King said.
Moore said some people with the McDowell County Ambulance Authority attended the meeting, but concerns raised on Wednesday had been resolved. “It was basically a non-issue,” Moore said.
