By Brad Johnson
Register-Herald Reporter
BECKLEY — Officials were relieved Saturday that no flooding had been reported in Summers County, but were nonetheless keeping a close watch on Bluestone Dam.
“We don’t anticipate any issues with Bluestone Dam based on the forecast of the National Weather Service,” Col. Bob Peterson, commander and district engineer for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Huntington District, said Saturday afternoon. He added he’d heard nothing during the day to contradict that outlook.
The National Weather Service reported Saturday evening that, although flooding is expected at other points along the New River, none is expected in Summers County, saying the river may crest at 10.7 feet, while flood stage is 14 to 15 feet.
“We’ve had absolutely no reports of flooding in Summers County,” a dispatcher for the Summers County Emergency Operations Center said at 9 p.m. Saturday.
Still, local officials expressed caution.
“We’ve had no flooding problems yet. The river’s still coming up, though. It’s just a matter of time,” Sheriff Ed Dolphin said Saturday afternoon. “The streams are still dumping into the rivers.
“We’re prepared for it. Hopefully we’ll be able to handle what comes at us.”
“We’re not seeing flooding yet and there haven’t been any real problems to this point,” Ray Farmer of the Hinton Volunteer Fire Department said Saturday. “We’re definitely at the ready, though. We’re keeping an eye on the Greenbrier River as well as the New River.”
It’s been estimated that Bluestone Dam has prevented about $4.6 billion in flood damages since it went into operation in 1949.
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Richwood in Nicholas County apparently “dodged a bullet” by avoiding any major flooding Saturday, a city official said. The area had been under a flood warning since Thursday.
City Councilman Mike Little said Saturday the North and South forks of the Cherry River “came up a lot, but started falling this morning. It looks like we dodged a bullet. We missed a lot of that heavy rain. There was some light rain today, nothing hard. It was on and off.”
However, Little said he and a friend drove from Richwood to Marlinton and back Saturday and noted “there’s still an extreme amount of snowpack on the mountains. It surprised me the amount of snow still on Kennison Mountain (between Richwood and Marlinton with an elevation of nearly 3,800 feet). Snow is piled 5 or 6 feet high on the side of the road and I’d say there’s still 2 feet back in the woods.”
— E-mail: bjohnson@register-herald.com
