Rescue crews begin muddy search for flood victims

Associated Press

KEYSTONE, W.Va. — Streams began receding Saturday in the ravaged central Appalachians as rescue workers searched the hills and valleys for more victims of flash floods that killed at least six people.

Amid light rain, recovery crews worked to reopen roads blocked by mud, boulders and washouts in the region that encompasses parts of southern West Virginia, western Virginia and eastern Kentucky.

"All we’ve got is water and mud now. That’s it," Cathy Hall said in Hurley, Va., weeping softly as she stood in a foot of soupy mud outside the Grundy National Bank branch office where she worked.

Tinnie Gravely, 35, of Welch took her four young children to a shelter and expressed fear for her town’s recovery.

"It would be a miracle," Gravely said. "Everything’s gone. It’s a ghost town."

Torrents of water from a drenching storm poured down steep mountainsides and overflowed from streams and rivers winding through narrow valleys in the three states on Thursday and Friday.

The death roll rose Saturday when a tree loosened by the flooding crashed down a hill along U.S. 52 onto a sports utility vehicle, killing one of two adults inside. Three children scrambled out the back with minor injuries. A few hundred feet away, trees on the hillside creaked audibly.

Many residents have accused the timber and coal industries of worsening the flood threat by stripping the land. "We pay the price," Tony Bailey said.

A study commissioned by West Virginia Gov. Bob Wise of the industries’ roles in last summer’s flood is due to be completed by July.

The Rev. Hilda Kennedy said she feared McDowell County may have difficulty recovering from the flood so soon after last year’s devastation. The July flood and other heavy rains last spring were blamed for at least six deaths in West Virginia alone.

"There’s not enough money in the state of West Virginia to repair it this time," Kennedy said.