[ wv strong ]
Together
We Rise
JENNIFER JETT PREZKOP
PHOTO BY HOWIE MCCORMICK
Many thanks to our
readers for sharing so
many images. To view
all the images submitted
to us, visit the WV
Flood 2016 album on
our Facebook page.
“The sun does not always shine in West
Virginia, but the people always do.”
No truer were President John F. Ken-
nedy’s words in 1960 than they were on
June 23, 2016, and the days that followed.
On June 23, West Virginians woke up
to the threat of heavy rain. By the next
morning, an extremely rare and historic
meteorological event had brought tor-
rential rains in a short amount of time,
causing damage in 44 of the state’s 55
counties, bringing devastation to four of
those counties and claiming at least 23 lives.
The natural beauty of the Mountain State
was barely recognizable through the mud-
scarred landscape. Houses were lifted up
from their foundations, some catching fire.
Cars were carried away. Images of trucks
twisted into metal pretzels around trees
showed the vengeance of the flood waters.
The homes and businesses in the hardest-hit
areas that were not destroyed faced major
damage. Roadways and bridges were washed
out. Debris was moved from piles in yards
to a bigger pile in the local park-and-ride,
the victims’ most prized possessions dimin-
ished to soggy waste. Inches of thick brown
mud covered everything, and residents set
about cleaning what they could salvage and
letting go of what they couldn’t.
The recovery efforts began before the
victims could even wrap their heads around
what had happened. According to USA
Today, an unusual weather system called
training combined with steep mountains
and narrow valleys created this disaster. As
those impacted returned from where they
had sought refuge during the high waters
to what was left of their homes, the West
Virginia Army National Guard and the
American Red Cross hit the ground running,
surveying damage and providing supplies,
food and water for those directly impacted.
Countless other organizations, as well as
local residents and business owners—and
even the victims themselves—got to work,
fighting through mud, hauling away debris
and clearing the way to start over.
It wasn’t long before the story of West
Virginia’s once-in-a-thousand-years flood
swept across the nation. Individuals, busi-
nesses, student groups and other organi-
zations began arriving with truckloads of
food, supplies and volunteers. Shoulder
to shoulder with West Virginians they’d
never met in a part of the country many
had never visited, enduring stifling heat
and long days of hard labor, Americans
united to give West Virginia a hand up.
The flood of 2016 robbed West Vir-
ginians of a lot of things—lives, homes,
businesses, livelihoods—but it also reaf-
firmed what is great about the Mountain-
eer spirit: that, much like our ancestors,
we can overcome any obstacle. Through
the many strangers who travelled to the
Mountain State to offer aid, this small, un-
assuming Appalachian state was showered
with acts of strangers loving strangers.
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