Heavy flooding in Virginia damages over 100 homes
Seventeen people are still unaccounted for and more than 100 homes have been damaged after flooding caused by torrential rains swept through a rural county in Virginia.
The disaster occurred overnight Tuesday into Wednesday morning in Buchanan County.
More than a dozen search-and-rescue teams have been dispatched in and around the small community of Whitewood, Buchanan county chief deputy sheriff Eric Breeding said at a briefing.
As of Wednesday morning, 25 people had been found, with no injuries or deaths reported.
Flooding hits rural, mountainous area
A photo shows the inside of a church upended after flooding in Whitewood, Virginia. This area of the state, in the far southwest, borders Kentucky and West Virginia, in a rural section of the Appalachian Mountains.
Ethan Freedman14 July 2022 15:24
Photos show heavy flooding in southwest Virginia
Images show overflowing of the Dismal Creek running through the small community of Pilgrim’s Knob in Buchanan County, Virginia after intense rainfall on Wednesday
Ethan Freedman14 July 2022 14:51
Why US floods are getting ‘flashier’
Last year, over 50 people died in the Northeast after the remnants of Hurricane Ida dropped record-breaking amounts of water in a matter of hours
Ethan Freedman14 July 2022 14:41
Flash flooding could get worse with the climate crisis
The flooding in southwest Virginia came on within hours, as heavy rainfall doused the region.
These kinds of events could get more common as the planet heats up from greenhouse gas emissions – a recent study has found that warmer temperatures could lead to storms that dump more and more water all at once, increasing the risk of flash flooding across many parts of the US.
Ethan Freedman14 July 2022 14:40
The Virginia State police have reported via a tweet that 25 people had been located overnight, 17 still to be found with no reports of injuries or deaths.
Ethan Freedman14 July 2022 14:22
Infrastructure buckles, homes badly damaged after flash flooding
Search-and-rescue teams were being hampered by roadways blocked by landslides and approaches to bridges that are washed out, according to the Virginia Department of Emergency Management.
Video footage from the scene showed small homes that had been lifted off their foundations, and others choked with mud and debris.
Hundreds of homes had lost power in the area. Some 2,773 customers were without power in Virginia on Wednesday morning, according to PowerOutage.US, which tracks outages in real-time.
Louise Boyle14 July 2022 14:06
Images emerge after catastrophic flooding overnight in rural area of state
Louise Boyle14 July 2022 13:46
Flash flooding wreaks havoc
Buchanan County and nearby Tazewell County in Virginia received 3-7 inches of rain in a 24 hour period, the National Weather Service reported on Tuesday night.
Heavy thunderstorms also led to flash flooding late on Tuesday along the Little Pigeon River in eastern Tennessee, AP reported.
That flooding prompted the evacuation of more than 400 people from a campground.
No injuries were reported in the Tennessee flooding, but vehicles and debris from the Greenbrier Campground were washed downstream by floodwaters, Sevier County Assistant Mayor Perrin Anderson told news outlets.
Louise Boyle14 July 2022 13:36
Virginia Governor declares a state of emergency
Virginia Governor Glenn Younkin declared a state of emergency on Wednesday in response to the severe flooding in the area.
“As we continue to assess the situation, I want to thank our first responders and the personnel on the ground for providing assistance with our ongoing operations in Buchanan County. While rescue and recovery continues, please join me in prayer as we lift up our fellow Virginians impacted by this tragedy,” Youngkin said in a statement.
Louise Boyle14 July 2022 13:29