This is something I don’t do very often. Fortunately, there are few natural disasters in my home state — and in my hometown — that require me to do it.
Despite the 16-year relationship with NBC, PFT is a West Virginia operation. I’ve lived in Bridgeport for more than 30 years, and I grew up in Wheeling, some 110 miles away. My wife and I were there nine days ago, at the birthday party of a friend I’ve known since the third grade.
Flooding happens in and around Wheeling. Our house wasn’t far from the Big Wheeling Creek. Once every 12 months or so, the sirens would blare in the middle of the night as the brown muck crept closer and closer to the homes.
We always had enough time to react. To move everything from the basement to the first floor. To park the car in a different neighborhood, so it wouldn’t get swept away. To get to higher ground, if it ever seemed like we’d get more than five feet of water and ten inches of mud.
On Saturday night, three to four inches of rainfall in only 40 minutes sparked significant flash flooding. Six people have died, including a 26-year-old woman and her three-year-old daughter. Three are still missing.
The damage in and around Wheeling is extensive.
“I’ve never seen anything like that,” State Senator Ryan Weld told WTOV9.com. “Cars flipped over and flipped around like they were matchbox cars, trailers, homes completely washed away and gone.”
There are multiple accounts in this item from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette of people screaming for help as the water overtook their cars.
“It happened so quickly and so fast,” Ohio County’s emergency management director Lou Vargo said during a news conference on Sunday. “I’ve been doing this for 35 years. I’ve seen major floods here in the city and the county. I’ve never seen anything like this.”
We know times are tough, for many. If you can spare a few dollars to help out folks who have lost everything, you can donate through the United Way of the Upper Ohio Valley. Just click here.
Give what you can, if you choose. West Virginia is home for me. If you feel any kind of connection to what we do at PFT, I hope you’ll also feel a little of the connection I have to my home state, and to my hometown.