Water and mud cover community after morning flooding

KANAWHA COUNTY, W.Va. (WSAZ) - Across Kanawha County, communities are cleaning up from morning flooding where high water and mud have left a mess.

Off Hughes Creek Road in Hugheston, West Virginia, water and mud left some homes and bridges severely damaged.

“I got out of bed about 4:30 this morning and the floodwater was already a foot and half or two feet over the highway down here, local resident David Querry said. “Creek had overflowed and hit all these houses.”

Querry said this entire process didn’t take much time.

Water flowed into many houses including Phala Shafer’s.

Shafer said at its worse, water was all the way up to her front porch and into her basement.

“All of a sudden it was just a total gush of water,” she said. “I mean, I’ve never seen it rise that fast before in my life ... very scary.”

One of the biggest problems in the community is all the mud, as even after hours of work, there are still inches of it across the community.

Another worry is the ability to get out of the community. While cars are still able to drive across one of the bridges, another is completely in the river.

“It’s torn out two bridges, two car bridges,” Querry said. “A lot of people are blocked in their homes. They can’t get out because of the creek.”

C.W. Sigman, director of Emergency Management in Kanawha County, told us there were at least 20 water rescues Monday morning in the county.

If floodwaters damaged your home, you’re asked to call the Kanawha County Planning Office at 304-357-0570.

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