SPANISHBURG —
Road crews spent much of Friday morning cleaning up debris and putting up high-water signs to prevent motorists from traveling into areas impacted by heavy rains and flooding overnight.
Tom Camden, district manager for the West Virginia Division of Highway’s District 10, said crews were out Friday morning in Mercer and McDowell counties to clean up debris and put up signs warning motorists of high water in roadways.
“We’ve just seen high water mainly,” Camden said. “We have crews in Mercer County down on Highway 19 around Spanishburg, Jug Neck, Blake Hollow and Ingleside. It’s pretty much the usual areas. We do not have any roads closed. There were some issues Thursday night in McDowell and in parts of Mercer with high water. Some of the usual suspects, Stewarts Street in Welch and areas down around Coalwood and Squire, had mainly just high water.”
Four roads in Mercer County were partially closed Friday afternoon due to potentially dangerous high water. Camden said Simmons River Road and Whittaker Hollow in the Montcalm area, Sharps Turn Road between Athens and Spanishburg, and Black Oak Road between the Rock and Kegley areas were partially closed due to high water.
“There are ways in and out on both ends of Simmons River Road, Sharps Turn and Black Oak Road,” Camden said. “Whittaker Hollow Road is a dead end, so most of the road is closed. We have signs out there. In some cases on these little roads there are no detours available. We are hoping once the water goes down there won’t be any extensive damage to the roads. In this case, it all depends on when the water goes down for when we will reopen. I hope we will be able to open them all back up tomorrow.”
Though there were reports of high water, Camden said no real damage was done to any of the roadways.
“We haven’t received any reports of any real damage,” he said. “There are instances where water has washed out some of the stone on gravel road that we will have to replace. Two of the worst spots in Mercer County were on Route 19 in Spanishburg and Route 112 that runs parallel to I-77 in Oakvale. There are areas where the road intersects with the railroad we have to clean up.”
Camden said crews often have to wait for the water to recede before anything can be done on roadways.
“When there is water over the road, there isn’t a lot we can do unless there is a pipe clogged and we can take care of that to get the water drained out,” Camden said. “We have been putting up signs warning people of the high waters. If there is a slide, we can clean that up. We usually have to wait for the water to recede before we can assess the damage.”
Officials with McDowell County 911 reported crews were working to clear up debris off of roads in the Canebrake and Anawalt areas of the county early Friday morning as well.
As of approximately 6:15 a.m. Friday morning, the National Weather Service in Blacksburg, Va., had received reports that guages along the Bluestone River were above flood stage with the water levels on the river slowly continuing to rise. The National Weather service said the rising water levels might impact rivers and streams, particularly in areas such as Spanishburg and Pipestem as well as other communities along the Bluestone River in northern Mercer County.
Though water began to recede around 12:15 p.m., the National Weather Service extended the flood warning for the northern area of Mercer County until 6:45 p.m. as a precaution. A flood advisory for Mercer, Tazewell and Bland counties remained in effect until 12:30 p.m. Friday.
According to Appalachian Power, approximately 245 customers in Buchanan County were without power through Friday morning, but electric service was restored to the county by 11:30 a.m. The Virginia State Police received reports of flooding in the Grundy, Va., area over night Thursday as well.
— Contact Kate Coil at
kcoil@bdtonline.com
Local News
Related Photos
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Whittaker Hollow Road near Montcalm remains closed at 3 p.m. Friday afternoon as the Bluestone River starts to recede. Staff photo by Eric DiNovo
Discussion
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Water must recede for repairs
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