Six inches of rain in a few hours Tuesday caused widespread damage in Buchanan County, West Virginia, CNN meteorologist Robert Shackelford said. “Combined with the fact that the area is mountainous, rainfall can accumulate quickly and dangerous runoff occurred,” he said. Just because people are missing doesn’t mean they really are, officials stressed. Phone lines are down in the area, making it difficult to contact anyone affected by the flooding, Virginia State Police spokeswoman Corinne Geller told CNN on Wednesday. The tally of 44 reflects those whose loved ones have been unable to reach them and cases in which law enforcement is “attempting to reach and locate the person and check on their welfare,” the county sheriff’s office said Buchanan on Wednesday in a Facebook post. . The storm was swift and overwhelming, with widespread flooding and road closures in just a few hours. Radar estimates indicate 6 inches of rain fell in about four hours starting at 8 p.m. on Tuesday, which corresponds to a rain event with a 1 in 1,000 chance of occurring in a given year. “We were sitting on this post office here, and the next thing you know, the house floats down from there. We thought it was going to be washed away. Two of the houses were washed away,” resident Seth Owens told a CNN affiliate. WCYB. Virginia’s governor has declared a state of emergency to aid recovery efforts. As surveys continue, the forecast for Thursday and Friday calls for sun, with high temperatures in the lower to mid-80s, before a slight chance of rain Saturday that increases Sunday and Monday, according to the National Weather Service Service. The destructive storm was among several that remained Tuesday night over the county and parts of Kentucky, West Virginia and Virginia. This region of Appalachia is among the most prone to flash flooding in the country, with many areas also at risk due to the growing threat of heavy rainfall, according to a CNN analysis of a report last year by a nonprofit climate research group, First Road Foundation. The climate crisis also exacerbates flash flooding by increasing the rate of precipitation, or the amount of rain that falls in a short period of time. A warmer atmosphere can hold more water, making extreme rainfall events more likely.
The roads “fell off the mountain”
Events like this, in which massive amounts of water are dumped in a short period of time, “have increased in frequency and intensity across the Southeast,” according to the U.S. government’s latest National Climate Assessment, “and there is a strong belief that they will continue to increase in future”. The National Weather Service issued a flash flood warning for Buchanan County around 8:30 p.m. Tuesday. About two hours later, local officials began reporting widespread flooding and road closures. Dominic Fragoso, who lives in Whitewood, said the water was up to his knees. “One of our neighbor’s driveways completely collapsed and fell off the mountain and into the river,” Fragoso told the station. The storm system also hit the Greenbrier Campground in Gatlinburg, Tenn., where more than 400 people were evacuated Wednesday after more than 8 inches of rain, said Perrin Anderson, assistant mayor for government affairs in Sevier County. “Debris and vehicles were washed downstream in the Middle Prong of the Little Pigeon River from the campground,” Anderson said. More than 100 homes were damaged in southwest Virginia, said Billy Chrimes, a search and rescue specialist with the Virginia Department of Emergency Management. “It’s going to take time to restore access so we can go in,” Chrimes said. Roads were blocked by landslides and approaches to bridges were washed away by the storm, he added. “In the wake of the disaster, I want Virginians in Buchanan County to know that we have every resource available to help those affected by this storm,” Gov. Glenn Youngkin said in a statement. “As the rescue and recovery continues, please join me in prayer as we lift up our fellow Virginians affected by this tragedy.” Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly reported when the torrential rain fell. It was Tuesday. CNN’s Claudia Dominguez, Brandon Miller and Raja Razek contributed to this report.
