Photos

Heavy storm causes havoc in Wheeling area

Intelligencer/Wheeling News-Register photo by Scott McCloskey A Wheeling police officer places a flare in the middle of National Road in Woodsdale Wednesday as drivers attempt to travel through high water.
Intelligencer/Wheeling News-Register photo by Scott McCloskey
A Wheeling police officer places a flare in the middle of National Road in Woodsdale Wednesday as drivers attempt to travel through high water.

WHEELING, W.Va. — A heavy, late-afternoon storm Wednesday caused landslides, flooding and at least one house fire around the Ohio Valley.

Local law enforcement officers and emergency crews were called out to several sections of Wheeling and the surrounding area, including a section of W.Va. 2 in Warwood, National Road in Woodsdale, W.Va. 88 and Peters Run Road, and several areas in Triadelphia and Valley Grove. The Pike Island Locks and Dam reported nearly an inch of rain fell throughout the day.

A section of W.Va. 2 near the Save-a-Lot store in Warwood was shut down as West Virginia Division of Highways workers removed mud and debris from the road. Police advised many drivers waiting in traffic that the road was expected to be closed for a several hours.

“We have had slides there in the past,” said Ohio County Emergency Management Director Lou Vargo.

Vargo said Long Run in Woodsdale, as well as sections of Peters Run and Dixon’s Run in Ohio County flooded about the same time.

The overflowing creek washed out a section of Peters Run Road, and it was unclear how long it would be closed.

Vargo added firefighters from the Triadelphia and Valley Grove volunteer fire departments assisted a number of residents who experienced basement flooding.

A section of National Road in the business district of Woodsdale left several businesses, including Hardee’s and CVS, surrounded by water for more than an hour.

Many drivers attempted to continue through the rising water, prompting a Wheeling Police officer to close the road for a time.

A West Liberty University student who was picking up food at Hardee’s said the restaurant was surrounded by water in a matter of minutes.

He said once he realized how fast the water was moving through the parking lot he ran outside to move his car to another nearby lot.

Elsewhere, in Belmont County, emergency crews responded to Crescent Road near Barton, for a car on its roof in the high water.

There were also reports of lightning striking a house on Colerain Pike, while firefighters also responded to a minor attic fire on South Zane Highway in Martins Ferry, also believed to be caused by lightning.

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