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<\/div>\nFlash flooding caused by torrential rains killed five people in northern West Virginia and rescue crews were searching for three other people who were missing Sunday as authorities assessed damage to roads, bridges, natural gas lines and other infrastructure.<\/p>\n
Officials said 2.5 to 4 inches (6 to 10 centimeters) of rain fell in parts of Wheeling and Ohio County within about a half hour on Saturday night.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe almost immediately started getting 911 calls for rescue of people being trapped,\u201d Lou Vargo, Ohio County\u2019s emergency management director, said at a news conference Sunday. \u201cDuring this time, we had major infrastructure damage to roads, bridges, and highways where we couldn\u2019t respond to a lot of incidents. So we were delayed in getting there because there was just so much damage.\u201d<\/p>\n
Vargo added: \u201cIt happened so quickly and so fast. \u2026 I\u2019ve been doing this for 35 years. I\u2019ve seen major floods here in the city and the county. I\u2019ve never seen anything like this.\u201d<\/p>\n
Authorities said vehicles were swept into swollen creeks, some people sought safety in trees and a mobile home caught fire.<\/p>\n
Similarly, swift flash flooding arrived in Marion County, south of Wheeling and Ohio County, early Sunday afternoon, causing extensive damage to bridges, roads and some homes, the county\u2019s Department of Homeland Security & Emergency Management said in a Facebook post. The county\u2019s 911 line has already processed at least 165 calls for service since the storms began.<\/p>\n
Gov. Patrick Morrisey declared a state of emergency in Marion County Sunday evening.<\/p>\n
Jim Blazier, the fire chief in Wheeling in the state\u2019s northern panhandle, said crews performed rescue operations into Sunday\u2019s early morning hours. He said first responders regrouped Sunday morning and were focused on an area from the Ohio state line across the Ohio River to Wheeling Creek.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re searching the banks, we\u2019re searching submerged vehicles, any debris we find along the trail and so forth,\u201d Blazier said. \u201cWe\u2019re using drones, search dogs and swift water personnel, and we have teams organized that are searching sectors that we\u2019re trying to recover anybody that\u2019s missing.\u201d<\/p>\n
There were about 2,500 reported power outages in the county Sunday, Morrisey confirmed in a news release Sunday evening, which updated the number of people confirmed dead to five, with three more missing. He has declared a state of emergency in Ohio County and mobilized the National Guard to support emergency operations.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn many respects, this is kind of a unicorn event, because a lot of the rain had very narrow areas and there were roughly 3 to 4 inches of water that fell in the area in less than an hour,\u201d Morrisey said at a press conference earlier Sunday. \u201cThat\u2019s very, very difficult to deal with.\u201d<\/p>\n
He added, \u201cYour friends, your neighbors, your first responders and people in the community, they\u2019re out working very hard to find people. That\u2019s our No. 1 task right now, trying to identify anyone who may still be out there.\u201d<\/p>\n
The West Virginia rains followed heavy downpours in San Antonio<\/a> on Thursday that killed 13 people<\/a>. More than 7 inches (18 centimeters) of rain fell over a span of hours in the Texas city, causing fast-rising floodwaters to carry more than a dozen cars into a creek.<\/p>\n Photo: The scene in part of Wheeling on Saturday. (Wheeling West Virginia Fire Department via AP)<\/em><\/p>\n Topics<\/span> Flood<\/a> Virginia<\/a> <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n Was this article valuable?<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n