CHARLESTON, W.Va. — A good portion of West Virginia saw heavy rainfall Thursday afternoon and it extended into the overnight hours. At the National Weather Service in Charleston, Meteorologist Nick Webb said most of the state had one to three inches of rain.
“It wort of bisected the state and affected areas of the coalfields, up into the Kanawha Valley, and then up to the Little Kanawha basin,” said Webb in an appearance o n MetroNews Talkline Friday.
The deluge was more than a lot of drainage systems could handle. There was widespread flash flooding. Even Interstate 64 had to be briefly closed when several feet of water were standing on the highway in the Charleston area. Low lying areas in many parts of the state were impacted.
Charleston Mayor Amy Goodwin said it was all of the usual spots in her city, but none of them was spared.
“Sugar Creek, Wertz, Woodward, South Ruffner, Chesterfield, if you’re by a creek you have flooding,” the Mayor said on 580-WCHS Radio after a long night.
Across Kanawha County there were plenty of issues with high water as well. County Commissioner Kent Carper said the bigger problem was trees washing into the roadways. Numerous roads were closed, but are slowly reopening as the county fire department helped clear them away along with Division of Highways crews.
The National Weather Service has extended the flood warning for the Coal River in Kanawha County until 8 p.m. Friday. Minor flooding is in the forecast.
Appalachian Power reported 6,000 of its customers in Kanawha County without power at 11 a.m. Friday in connection with last night’s rain—-and poles that have come down.
Outages impacting more than 500 customers is also impacting Boone, Fayette and Lincoln counties.
Power restoration efforts could be impacted by windy conditions that are in the forecast.
The National Weather Service has a wind advisory in effect until 7 a.m. Saturday with west winds 10-20 mph with gusts to 40-45 mph possible.