More than 100 homes were damaged and at least 44 people were unaccounted for on Wednesday after powerful storms swept through southwestern Virginia and brought heavy flooding and landslides, local officials said.
According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, (NOAA). more than 4.5 inches of rain fell on Buchanan County, which borders Kentucky and West Virginia in southwestern Virginia, on Tuesday night.
The area affected by the flooding lies inside the Appalachian Mountains and the mountain ridges acted like a funnel for the rain, causing the river to rise rapidly and sweeping houses off their foundations, leaving people to wade through waist-high water to safety.
“Our back steps left, and then our front porch left, and then we were stranded in the house. Me and my son, my 2-year-old son, were on an air mattress on the floor, and we were floating,” one woman told WJHL, an 8News sister station.
One resident described the difficulty surrounding the problems from Tuesday’s flood, saying, “There was no way to get a vehicle out or get in here to us…because the water was so high. I don’t think a boat would’ve come up, as high as it was.”
ABC affiliate WRIC8 is reporting that 44 people have not been reachable to loved ones, according to the Buchanan County Sheriff’s Office on Wednesday evening, four more than originally reported at a press conference.
A state of emergency was declared by Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin to aid with the response and recovery efforts. An official from the Virginia Department of Emergency Management said accessing the remote area was part of the struggle for search-and-rescue teams. Many roadways are blocked by landslides and approaches to bridges are washed out, the official said.
Buchanan County also suffered serious flooding damage last year, when the remnants of a hurricane hit the area in September, washing away homes and leaving one person dead.