Flash flooding kills 5 in West Virginia, rescue teams searching for
missing people
[June 16, 2025]
By DAVE COLLINS
Flash flooding caused by torrential rains killed five people in northern
West Virginia and rescue crews were searching for three other people who
were missing Sunday as authorities assessed damage to roads, bridges,
natural gas lines and other infrastructure.
Officials said 2.5 to 4 inches (6 to 10 centimeters) of rain fell in
parts of Wheeling and Ohio County within about a half hour on Saturday
night.
“We almost immediately started getting 911 calls for rescue of people
being trapped,” Lou Vargo, Ohio County's emergency management director,
said at a news conference Sunday. “During this time, we had major
infrastructure damage to roads, bridges, and highways where we couldn't
respond to a lot of incidents. So we were delayed in getting there
because there was just so much damage."
Vargo added: “It happened so quickly and so fast. … I’ve been doing this
for 35 years. I’ve seen major floods here in the city and the county.
I’ve never seen anything like this.”
Authorities said vehicles were swept into swollen creeks, some people
sought safety in trees and a mobile home caught fire.
Similarly, swift flash flooding arrived in Marion County, south of
Wheeling and Ohio County, early Sunday afternoon, causing extensive
damage to bridges, roads and some homes, the county's Department of
Homeland Security & Emergency Management said in a Facebook post. The
county's 911 line has already processed at least 165 calls for service
since the storms began.
Gov. Patrick Morrisey declared a state of emergency in Marion County
Sunday evening.
Jim Blazier, the fire chief in Wheeling in the state’s northern
panhandle, said crews performed rescue operations into Sunday's early
morning hours. He said first responders regrouped Sunday morning and
were focused on an area from the Ohio state line across the Ohio River
to Wheeling Creek.
“We’re searching the banks, we’re searching submerged vehicles, any
debris we find along the trail and so forth,” Blazier said. “We’re using
drones, search dogs and swift water personnel, and we have teams
organized that are searching sectors that we’re trying to recover
anybody that’s missing.”
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In this image provided by the Wheeling West Virginia Fire
Department, cars sit submerged in floodwaters, Saturday, June 14,
2025, in Wheeling, W.V. (Wheeling West Virginia Fire Department via
AP)
There were about 2,500 reported power outages in the county Sunday,
Morrisey confirmed in a news release Sunday evening, which updated
the number of people confirmed dead to five, with three more
missing. He has declared a state of emergency in Ohio County and
mobilized the National Guard to support emergency operations.
"In many respects, this is kind of a unicorn event, because a lot of
the rain had very narrow areas and there were roughly 3 to 4 inches
of water that fell in the area in less than an hour," Morrisey said
at a press conference earlier Sunday. "That’s very, very difficult
to deal with.”
He added, “Your friends, your neighbors, your first responders and
people in the community, they’re out working very hard to find
people. That’s our No. 1 task right now, trying to identify anyone
who may still be out there.”
The West Virginia rains followed heavy downpours in San Antonio on
Thursday that killed 13 people. More than 7 inches (18 centimeters)
of rain fell over a span of hours in the Texas city, causing
fast-rising floodwaters to carry more than a dozen cars into a
creek.
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Associated Press writer Jesse Bedayn in Denver contributed.
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