Twitter/WVDOT (CHARLESTON, W.V.) — West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice has declared a state of emergency in eight counties after the state was hit with flash floods on Friday night.
The heavy rainfall forced some residents out of their homes and others had to be rescued, but no fatalities or serious injuries were reported as of Saturday afternoon.
The counties included in the governor’s declaration were Ohio, Marshall, Wetzel, Marion, Monongalia, Harrison, Taylor and Tucker.
“We are extremely saddened and deeply concerned for all West Virginians that are experiencing flooding and damage right now,” the governor said in a statement. “We have mobilized our National Guard and Highways personnel and they are assisting other first responders from across the state to make sure our citizens in these affected areas are being kept safe and out of harm’s way.”
There were flood warnings and flood watches for north-central West Virginia, the northern panhandle, and some for the eastern part of the state, but storms were expected to be move out later Saturday.
Home were damaged in the flooding, and according to the governor’s director of communications– Butch Antolini– fire stations were unusable in some of the affected areas.
West Virginia was hit by severe flooding in June 2016 that left 23 people dead.
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