An editorial from The Exponent Telegram
CLARKSBURG, W.Va. — Thirty years ago today, we were expecting rain. We had little idea what was coming.
It just kept raining. And when it stopped raining, much of West Virginia was cleaning up after one of the biggest flooding disasters in a century.
The Potomac, Monongahela, Tygart, Greenbrier and Cheat rivers would rise to record levels.
Towns like Parsons, Albright and Rowlesburg would be devastated. Other towns would be cut off from the rest of the world because roads and bridges had been washed away.
Rising waters knocked out Clarksburg’s water treatment plant, forcing much of its population to line up for days at tanker trucks with water jugs in hand.
There would be harrowing stories of people trapped in their houses. Some perished, while others were rescued by very brave first-responders.
Upshur County resident Diana Nazelrod saw the floodwaters rise in her community of Adrian.
“I’ve seen the water up before, but never anything like that,” she said, as she recalled the event last week. “It was just scary. And it came up so fast.”
The speed and the magnitude of the flooding caught state residents off guard and, before long, fear turned to numbness and grief.
For those who lived through it, they all have a story — many of them painful.
But we also saw countless acts of great humanity…