Region recalls devastation 10 years after communities and lives were destroyed by floods

BILL ARCHER
Bluefield Daily Telegraph

KIMBALL — “That was a Sunday morning,” Jimmy Gianato, director for the Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management said. “We received an initial report of flooding in Northfork, and tried to get there, but the road was blocked and we were turned back in Landgraff. By the time we got back to (Kimball) the whole town was under water.”

On July 8, 2001, Gianato was chief of the Kimball Volunteer Fire Department and director of emergency services in McDowell County. The flash flood that struck southern West Virginia and southwestern Virginia swamped homes and businesses throughout the coalfields, causing millions of dollars in damages in Wyoming, Raleigh, McDowell and Mercer counties in West Virginia and Tazewell County, Va. Communities like Kimball, Northfork, Keystone, Welch, Iaeger and Mullens were particularly hard-hit, and hundreds of families were left homeless.

“It was the beginning of an experience I'll never forget,” Gianato said. “When you go through something like that professionally and personally, it gives you a different perspective. It helps you understand how people feel in times of disaster. A lot of first-responders in the area were personally affected by the floods.”

While Gianato was working to help others, his wife, Markella, his son, Adam, his mother-in-law and father-in-law, Mary and Tommy Balasis, were stranded on the second floor of the Balasis home on Main Street in Kimball. “If you didn't see it, you couldn't believe it,” Markella Gianato said. “We were trapped up there until Richard Jones came along with a front-loader and rescued us in the bucket.” While all four made it out alive, Markella's father didn't fare too well. “He died a few weeks before the second flood on May 2, 2002.

“We lost a lot of pictures and personal things that I thought were irreplaceable, but I have often said since then that the most important things in my life came out in the bucket of that end-loader,” Markella Gianato said.

Sgt. John Pauley of the West Virginia State Police was on his way to work on that Sunday afternoon in 2001. Pauley is now Troop 6 commander of the West Virginia State Police, but was then commander of the Welch Detachment.

“I got stuck at the Cherry-Key Inn on U.S. Route 52 in Landgraff,” Pauley said. “Eventually, I found a way up behind road and got around the flooded part of the road there. I had my (Ford) Expedition then. As I was going on up into Kimball and Welch, I saw how bad it was. I was there for three weeks. I never went home. We delivered oxygen to a lady up in Bradshaw. Just the utter destruction got to me.

“You think about a town like Landgraff,” Pauley said. “There were houses up through there with families living in them. Almost all of those houses are gone now. Devastation is the only word I can think to describe the experience.”

Pauley said that in the days, weeks and months that followed, he learned a lot about the people of McDowell County and the other areas that suffered through the flood. “I was amazed by the way the people pulled together to help each other in such a difficult time,” he said. “I made a lot of friends during that flood ... Good friends. People I know I can count on in life.”

During one day in the three-week period that Pauley was on the job, he spent an entire Saturday cleaning the mud out of Anthony Gianato's hardware store in Kimball. He wasn't alone. Emergency responders, volunteer groups, the National Guard and others came into the region to help residents get back on their feet.

“The National Guard was a blessing,” Jimmy Gianato said. “The governors we have had (Underwood, Wise and Manchin) and present Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin all are committed to taking care of the people first and that means a lot.

“The resiliency of the people is remarkable,” Gianato said. “That spirit is typical of the spirit you see everywhere you go in the state. Our family grocery store was a wreck, but my grandmother had been there since 1923 and she wanted to re-open it. It's open now because of her.”

The 2001 flood forced Markella Gianato to postpone opening a sandwich shop she was ready to open, and the 2002 flood ruined the equipment that was spared in the 2001 flood. Instead of feeling sorry for herself, Markella Gianato opened the Ya'sou Restaurant. Since 2006, the restaurant has served as the headquarters of the “Kimball Kids Reunions.” a popular annual event that brings people back to the community for social get-togethers, guided tours and even a parade - scheduled this year for 3 p.m., on Saturday.

“I'm looking forward to the parade,” Jimmy Gianato said. “The town looks good and it brings a lot of people back home.”