Columns
March 18, 2010
Raccoons, rubbish and snakes can make flood clean-up challenging
We frequently get into debates whenever we “budget” at the Bluefield Daily Telegraph. During these daily meetings, we decide which stories are going to go where in the upcoming edition. Of course, we get sidetracked a bit sometimes. Well, more than sometimes.
The latest debate started last Friday, March 12, when the subject of the weekend’s weather came up. The big question was whether it was going to flood. When you added up factors such as the forecasted rain, the frozen snowbanks still waiting to melt and the fact that the ground just couldn’t gulp down any more water, a flood seemed likely.
Managing Editor Samantha Perry wanted to know if we wanted to make a bet; would it flood?
None of us took up this bet, and it’s a good thing. I would have lost money.
I went to the Bluefield Lions Pancake Breakfast that Saturday and decided to walk to the city park afterward. You could both see and hear that Beaver Creek was at full capacity. Along the road to the entrance, you could see that the rushing brown water was just shy of swamping the bridges.
The creek was out of its banks by the time it reached the park’s horse ring. One of the Festival of Lights’ Christmas elves was submerged up to his chin. If the water got any deeper, the city could stock it with trout.
But there wasn’t anything funny about the weather for the region’s people. By Monday FEMA and county officials were touring the flood stricken areas and assessing the damage. Roads were flooded and whole communities were cut off; that happens pretty easily in rural, mountainous areas. That water over the road might be a couple of inches deep or it might be deep enough to swallow up your car and you with it. You just don’t know and you can’t risk it.
Over the years we’ve covered some really serious floods. It’s easy to forget the power of water until you see the results for yourself. After visiting a flood zone, you can understand how a river carved out the Grand Canyon.
Years ago I visited McDowell County after a big flood and saw homes that had been knocked off their foundations.
At one home I visited, a creek running alongside the property had washed half the front yard away. As we walked along the bank, the owner suddenly spotted a boulder the size of a refrigerator in the middle of the creek.
“That wasn’t there before,” he said.
Now there are a lot of people who have to clean up from this latest round of flood waters. After enduring a cold winter with icy roads and built-up glaciers of plowed snow, they have to contend with stinky water and mud. They have to put away their snow shovels and get out rubber gloves, buckets and bleach.
Flooded areas also have to contend with displaced animals. Raccoons and other wildlife either get run out of their territory or come in to sift through the debris left behind by the flood, hoping to find stranded fish or other tidbits.
At one home I visited years ago, flood victims were trying to run out the snakes that were trying to homestead in their living room and basement. Wild animals, dirty water, and sharp objects hiding in the mess create all kinds of opportunities for bites, cuts, and the rabies and/or tetanus shots that come afterward.
And there’s all the garbage and other debris left behind when the flood waters recede. While I was watching the water roaring through Beaver Creek, I saw a beer bottle being swept along like a castaway’s message for help. Plastic drink bottles and plastic bags added to the mess.
The most important thing now is to take action. Don’t wait for the Federal Emergency Management Agency to knock on your door. A hotline has been set up for reporting damage to residential and structures at (304) 487-8448.
Floods have struck southern West Virginia for years, and we’ve been through worse floods than the one that just hit the region.
With action, we will get through this one, too, and hopefully learn a little more to make the next ones a little less damaging.
Greg Jordan is a reporter for the Daily Telegraph. Contact him at gjordan@bdtonline.com.
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