State's worst floods in a century kill 23 in West Virginia

[June 25, 2016]  By Laila Kearney and Barbara Goldberg
 
 (Reuters) - At least 23 people in West Virginia have died in the U.S. state's worst flooding in more than a century, and hundreds more have been rescued from swamped homes, officials said on Friday.

The mountainous state was pummeled by up to 10 inches of rain on Thursday, causing rivers and streams to overflow.

"The damage is widespread and devastating," Governor Earl Ray Tomblin said at a news conference. "Our biggest challenge continues to be high waters."

A spokeswoman for the state Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management put the death toll at 23. The hardest-hit area was Greenbrier County in the southeast of the state, with 15 deaths, she said.

Multiple rivers have risen to dangerous heights, including the Elk River, which reached 32 feet, the highest since 1888, Tomblin said.

Government officials are focusing resources on rescuing those trapped or swept away by the flooding, he said, adding that some 66,000 residences are without power.

The governor declared a state of emergency in 44 of 55 counties and deployed 200 members of the West Virginia National Guard to help rescue efforts on Friday.

Though rivers were expected to crest by Friday night and the rescue and recovery effort is likely to last through the weekend, said Tim Rock, spokesman for the West Virginia Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management.

"There have been towns that have been completely surrounded by water," Rock said. "People say there is 8 to 9 feet of water in their house.

"It's at least into the hundreds forced to get emergency shelter," he said. "Even if you can get back into your home, who knows what kind of shape it's in."

Emergency crews take out boats on a flooded I-79 at the Clendenin Exit, after the state was pummeled by up to 10 inches of rain on Thursday, causing rivers and streams to overflow into neighboring communities, in Kanawha County, West Virginia, June 24, 2016. West Virginia Department of Transportation/Handout via Reuters

West Virginia received one-quarter of its annual rainfall in a single day, National Weather Service meteorologist Frank Pereira said. Rains eased on Friday.

The storms that drenched West Virginia were part of a severe weather system that swept through the U.S. Midwest, triggering tornadoes.

(Reporting by Barbara Goldberg and Laila Kearney in New York, and Ian Simpson in Washington; Editing by Leslie Adler and Cynthia Osterman)

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