People recovering from the Feb. 15 flood still need help

Yahoo

06-03-2025

Ever since I was a kid, I've loved movies about giant monsters like Godzilla, Rodan and King Kong. I watched as these fantasy beasts destroyed huge swaths of Tokyo, sank battleships and shrugged off missiles and bombs. They left swaths of destruction in their wake. Well, like I just said, that was all fantasy. A real Godzilla would collapse under his own weight and a giant gorilla like Kong wouldn't be able to function. The big ape's body isn't designed to be so huge. Another part of the fantasy is how we rarely see the people who were in all those buildings Godzilla smashes under his feet. The very first Godzilla movie showed audiences the human suffering inflicted by his rampage, but later movies glossed over that part of reality. New Godzilla movies bring up human suffering again and portray the monster as a terrible force of nature. Well, many people in southern West Virginia and Southwest Virginia can testify that the damage Godzilla causes in those movies is nothing compared to the real losses inflicted by hurricanes and floods. That destruction caused by an actor in a Godzilla suit or a computer-generated version is all make believe. Audiences forget about it as soon as the movie ends. That's not the case when real disasters strike. When Tropical Storm Helene, the last breath of Hurricane Helene, hit the region back in September 2024, its wind and rain knocked out power to thousands of people, blocked roads, flooded basements and damaged or destroyed homes within a few hours. Yes, the storm didn't last that long, but its impact has lasted. Then came the Feb. 15 flood that hit a lot of southern West Virginia and Southwest Virginia. Within a few hours, inches of rain fell. Rivers and creeks left their banks and unleashed the awesome and terrible power of water. Photographer Tara Wyatt and I saw the results Tuesday as we visited McDowell County. When we stopped in Kimball and spoke with Fire Chief Jimmy Gianato, I saw some picnic tables piled against each other. I'm not talking about light tables made of aluminum tubing. I'm talking about those big tables made of heavy timbers, the ones you see at state parks. Gianato told me that those tables had been placed around town, but the flood waters had scooped them up and piled them up. And that was just one example. I was reminded of the terrible damage I saw after the 2001 and 2002 floods that hit McDowell County and other areas. During a visit for interviews, one homeowner led me to his property and showed me how the neighboring creek had ripped away half his yard during the flood. He paused and I realized that he was staring at a boulder in the creek. That hunk of rock was about the size of a refrigerator. 'That wasn't there before,' he said. Despite the damage, we saw reasons for hope. Volunteers were helping their neighbors and strangers clean up from the flood. Volunteer fighters and other first responders were helping collect supplies and get them to people needing them. People living well away from the Virginias are coming in to help. More than one resident told us how ATV enthusiasts that come regularly to McDowell County's branch of the Hatfield-McCoy Trail have brought in supplies. The people they've met in the county have become friends and those friends are in need. People recovering from the Feb. 15 flood still need cleaning supplies plus tools such as wheelbarrows, push brooms, mops and shovels, fans and dehumidifiers. Linda McKinney with the Five Loaves & Two Fishes Food Bank in Kimball said gallon jugs of water are needed along with Little Buddy heaters. The food bank also needs the filters and hoses necessary to safely hook these heaters to large propane tanks. The region will recover because the people here are determined to stay undaunted. They are willing to do whatever it takes to clean up and do what can be done to reduce the chances of future floods inflicting such heavy damage. Federal disaster assistance will help them a lot, but their spirit will help the region recover and move ahead.