MANNINGTON, W.Va. — The July 29 flood will likely go down as the most significant flood in Marion County in more than 40 years — at least that’s how a number of eyewitnesses felt.
“I didn’t realize the weather was going to be as bad,” Sheila Higgins said. “I kept hearing — and I live close to the firehouse — stuff over there through the night.”
But Higgins, who lives on Monroe Street, said she didn’t really realize how bad it was until she woke up Saturday morning.
“I thought [firefighters] must be on stand by,” she said. “I got up and looked out the front door about 7:30, and I’m like, ‘Oh my god.’ The water was clear around my truck, up to my porch. I’m like freaking out. At that time, I was really scared.”
Higgins said the water damaged or home and her downtown business — where she stores items that eventually are sold at yard sales.
“I was trying to keep it dry,” she said. “The roof didn’t leak here, but the flood water came in about six inches and ruined lots of stuff in there.”
Just a few blocks over on Water Street, Sherry Williams was, for the most part, safe in her home from the murky waters. The water rose about five feet into her basement, but never reached the first floor of her home.
“It started raining Friday in the afternoon and did not stop raining,” she said.
She said her neighbors are a little worse for wear, though.
“We got it bad,” Williams said. “Park View apartments live right there by the park, and they was flooded real bad.”
“My neighbor’s yard was flooded. My backyard was flooded. The ice cream place over here was all flooded.”
There were more than 30 water rescues in the area confirmed by the Marion County 911 Center between 1:00 a.m. Saturday and 1:00 p.m. Saturday.
“There was a lot of people going in through the water that didn’t have sense enough to know it was deep, and they got stuck,” Williams said.
The water is receding, but still high in the rivers and creeks surrounding the town.
“Just the stink and the mud,” Higgins said. “It’ll take a while to get dried out.”
A number of people were evacuated to North Marion High School. Now, it’s about the clean-up process. Governor Jim Justice pledged Sunday afternoon to provide assistance.
“Mannington needs a lot of help,” Williams said. “They need a lot of help. The cleaning and hauling their stuff out of the basements.”
Brittany Murray contributed to this report.