This story was reported and written by our media partner the Virginia Mercury.
The death toll from Hurricane Helene’s impact on Southwest Virginia is up to at least two, as another storm forms off the Gulf Coast that could hit the region later this week.
Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin on Monday gave the update on deaths from the storm that hit several states in the Southeast, including Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky and Virginia. Over 100 are dead, the Associated Press reported.
“We are bringing resources to bear in an unprecedented way for Southwest Virginia,” Youngkin said. “I heard over, and over and over again: ‘I’ve lived here for 70, 80 years, I’ve never seen anything like this.’ That has been clear.”
Youngkin gave his update at the Virginia Department of Emergency Management Emergency Operations Center Monday afternoon, a day after President Joe Biden approved an Emergency Disaster Declaration to unlock assistance through the Federal Emergency Management Agency to aid responses in the counties of Grayson, Smyth, Tazewell, Washington, Wise, and Wythe, as well as the city of Galax. Another thirteen counties and five cities are expected to be added, Youngkin said.
According to the National Weather Service, the city of Galax saw a dumping of about 8.6 inches of rain over a 72 hour period. The town of Damascus, with a population of about 788 people in Washington County, saw 19.5 feet of flooding in the southern end of the New River Valley, which experienced high waters as far north as Radford University.
“They put out guidance that this would be a horrific season, with almost 30 storms, yet, here we are, we’re only on Helene,” said Shawn Talmadge, state coordinator at VDEM, referencing how storms are named in alphabetical order. “But this storm itself is unique. It rapidly intensifies, made landfall very quickly as a [Category 4] and then started interacting with this unusual environment, just huge amounts and volumes of rain.”
Over 70 swift water rescue operations have occurred, with Virginia National Guard members rappelling from helicopters and pulling people from cars, Youngkin said. Helicopter crews out of Abingdon helped rescue about 50 people from the roof of a hospital in Tennessee by building a makeshift platform to land on.
“This is a life-changing storm for many people and communities,” said Tom Cormons, executive director of Appalachian Voices, an environmental non-profit with grassroots efforts throughout Appalachia. “Recovery is going to be a long, difficult process.”
At the peak of the storm, about 282,000 Appalachian Power customers in the region were without power. That number was down to 83,000 as of 1 p.m. Monday, the company said in a news release. The CEOs of Appalachian Power Company and its parent company American Electric Power visited the region, Youngkin said.
An issue responders are still dealing with is the lack of cell-phone service. The state has deployed mobile towers to provide service in the meantime, Youngkin said. If possible,residents are urged to call 211 or visit vaemergency.gov for ways to get help. Impacted residents may also stop by shelters where they can shower and get meals, which have been handed out by incarcerated members under coordination with the Department of Corrections.
“I know a lot of people want to stay where they are, but sometimes it’s just not safe,” said Youngkin.
The Virginia Department of Forestry had cleared 817 miles of roadways by Sunday afternoon, but road closures have added 30 minute- to hour long-detours in the region that already had minimal thoroughfares to go around mountainous terrain.
Regions further east and north in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia also saw road closures, including five in Albemarle County where one road was washed out and will need to be rebuilt. In Madison County, route 670, or Old Blue Ridge Turnpike, was washed out, as Route 637, or Mutton Hollow Road, in Greene County was closed due to high water.
Along with farmers having hay crops and berry farms ruined, and residents needing oxygen tanks and medication, Youngkin said dams, including the Appalachian Power Company hydroelectric power dam, were a concern going into the storm. But as the water receded, so did officials’ caution. The concern now is areas like Claytor Lake in the New River Valley.
“We’re worried about what’s in the water behind the dam,” said Youngkin. “The combination of both our surface rescue teams and hazmat teams are working to get as much stuff out of the water as we can. Propane tanks, in the water, we got to get them out. There’s floating cars, there’s all kinds of stuff.”
On Monday, Youngkin added, the state would be submitting its request for a Major Disaster Declaration, which will release federal funds to provide post-disaster relief for families in the form of individual assistance as well as reimbursing localities for their costs through public assistance.
Youngkin, nor Timothy S. Pheil, federal FEMA federal coordinating officer, knew exactly how much the state was going to request.
“It’s going to be big, we’re going (through) all the thresholds. I can’t begin to estimate,” Youngkin said. “Aggregating the personal loss, business losses … we had local law enforcement offices that were flooded. All of that has got to be assessed. It’s a lot.”
Potentially complicating the post-disaster relief, though, is that FEMA funds were left out of a congressional budget compromise reached a couple weeks ago, amid partisan disagreement, to keep the federal government running.
“It is my understanding that Congress would have to return in order to approve supplemental disaster funds,” said Emily Steinhilber, director of climate resilient coasts and watersheds for Virginia at the Environmental Defense Fund.
The National Weather Service in Blacksburg is forecasting scattered showers and a possible thunderstorm through Tuesday night at the Brookneal/Campbell County Airport, which is about 30 minutes south of Lynchburg. Another storm forming off the Gulf Coast is prompting fresh concerns, Youngkin said, as it could hit the region already inundated with water.
“Particularly, the New River Valley is still angry,” Youngkin said. “The river is angry and full, and more rain is only going to make that worse. The whole stretch up the New River Valley has real risk associated with it.”
Mary-Carson Stiff, executive director of the nonprofit Wetlands Watch, said it’s the hurricanes that heat up in the Gulf’s increasingly warmer waters that are dumping “unimaginable amounts of rain in rivers and creeks.”
“Virginia’s communities are already experiencing roughly 20% more rainfall since 2006, so when you add more rain from a big storm into our already full water bodies and stressed infrastructure, the outcome is disastrous,” Stiff said.
