We're On The Scene After The 'Triple Whammy' In W.Va.
    And "We'll Still Be Here"
by Peg Reese, NRCS Public Affairs Staff, Morgantown, W.Va.

     Summertime brings lots of great things--but it's also the time of deadly storms and other natural disasters. To date, this summer season has already seen Tropical Storms Allison and Barry sock parts of the southern U.S.

     USDA employees are generally always involved in the aftermath of these natural disasters. That's part of the Department's mission, so it's not often news when our employees are on the scene providing assistance. But Mother Nature threw a 'triple whammy' at West Virginia this summer, with three floods in three weeks. This meant that, for Natural Resources Conservation Service employees in that state, life has been anything but 'business as usual.'

     NRCS employees had nearly completed some Emergency Watershed Protection work, caused by earlier spring flooding in southern West Virginia, when an early morning thunderstorm on July 8 dumped 8 to 11 inches of rain within seven hours. Bill Harris, an NRCS soil conservationist based in Beckley, W.Va., reported that "It went from minor flooding to major flooding in 15 to 20 minutes."

     By the time that flash flood was over, two people had died, more than 3,500 homes had been damaged or destroyed, 60 water systems were out of service, and more than 100 roads had been closed. But then more rain--first on July 26 and then again on July 29--caused additional flash flooding, one more death, and added two more counties to the federal disaster declaration, which ultimately totaled 22 out of West Virginia's 55 counties.

     "Very little damage was done to agricultural land," stated Tom Vance, NRCS district conservationist for Greenbrier County. "Some hay bales got wet, but there was little damage to fences or debris buildup on hay or on pasture land." However, gardens throughout southern West Virginia were flooded, and West Virginia University Cooperative Extension staffers advised that food from flooded gardens should not be consumed because of untreated sewage in the floodwaters.

     "One bright note," emphasized Dave Darnell, the NRCS district conservationist in Beckley, "is that flood control structures and channels--which our employees designed, funded, and installed through the NRCS Watershed Program--protected their communities as designed." In fact, Danny Barr, mayor of Sophia, W.Va., stated that the Soak Creek Channel, an NRCS Watershed Program for flood control which had been completed in 1989, "paid for itself" in July.

    "Without the channel," Barr added, "Sophia would have suffered flood damages in excess of what it cost to construct the channel."

     While generally known as a USDA agency that works with farmers and ranchers and other private landowners to reduce erosion and improve and protect water quality, NRCS--through its Emergency Watershed Protection Program--also repairs flood damage that affects life, health, and property. Assistance can include removing debris from stream channels, road culverts and bridges, reshaping and protecting eroded streambanks, correcting damaged drainage facilities, and reseeding damaged areas.

     Accordingly, NRCS employees began documenting damages, even as the floodwaters were rising on July 8. On July 9 NRCS, the West Virginia Soil Conservation Agency, and the Southern Soil Conservation District established a flood recovery office in Beckley, and NRCS detailed 57 employees to work in disaster response teams with employees from the Soil Conservation Agency.

     Some NRCS employees have been working virtually every day since that first round of flooding on July 8. Three-fourths of those detailed to work on flood recovery efforts are still living in local motels to be closer to their area of operations. "We care about the people who have suffered such loss," said Loren Rice, an NRCS engineer based in Beckley. "We try--we really try--to help them."

     The flooded areas had been described as looking like a "war zone." The flooding had swept homes, cars, trees, and other materials into streams and had left behind massive destruction and several feet of mud. For instance, "We've removed three house trailers that were broken apart like kindling wood," stated Eugene Friend, NRCS soil conservation technician based in Middlebourne, W.Va. He said his crew also removed "trees, photo albums, and a deep freezer full of meat."

     "Contract crews, which we've funded and are supervising, have been working to remove stream blockages and debris as quickly as possible," stated Jerry Brackenrich, an NRCS soil conservationist based in Beckley. "Even moderate rainfall can cause additional flooding if debris is blocking a stream."

"The late July flooding would have been even more severe had NRCS and the West Virginia Soil Conservation Agency not been removing stream blockages from the July 8 flood," recounts Bill Hartman (right), the NRCS state conservationist based in Morgantown, W.Va. He and Danny Miles, an NRCS civil engineering technician based in Beckley, W.Va., are discussing NRCS's Emergency Watershed Protection Program efforts in that state, as they overlook what had been a debris-clogged stream in McDowell County, W.Va. The southern part of that state got hit with a 'triple whammy' this summer, with three floods in three weeks. But NRCS employees were on the scene, conducting debris removal from flooded streams and offering other forms of assistance in those flooded areas.--Photo by Sam DePue

     "The late July flooding," added Bill Hartman, the NRCS state conservationist based in Morgantown, W.Va., "would have been even more severe had NRCS and the West Virginia Soil Conservation Agency not been removing stream blockages from the July 8 flood." He projected that all debris removal statewide would be completed by Labor Day.

     Rushing floodwaters eroded streambanks and undercut buildings in some places. One church lost 20 feet of bank in the flood. But by mid-August NRCS staffers had begun streambank restoration efforts to protect these homes, churches, and businesses.

     Under NRCS supervision, gabions--which are rock-filled metal baskets--and rock riprap--which are collections of individual rocks--are being placed over streambanks, to stabilize those that have eroded.

     For James Dodson, an NRCS civil engineering technician based in Beckley, the food recovery work brought special satisfaction. "I was raised in Ashland," he noted. "It feels good to help the people I went to school with."

     "When the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Army Corps of Engineers, and the National Guard are gone," added Sam DePue, the NRCS district conservationist based in Princeton, W.Va., "we'll still be here helping people."