Certain counties in the state of Virginia have been under a state of emergency since late Thursday evening due to a massive flood that has come through and left at least 23 dead. State officials are categorizing this flood as one of the worst floods the state has experienced in at least a century.
As members of the West Virginia National Guard have been sent out to rescue hundreds of people from swamped communities. Nearly 500 people are still left in shopping malls and almost 66,000 people are left without power, according to ABC News.
The cause of this massive epidemic is due to
“derecho” weather system and also to high rivers. NBC News reports that the derecho was the cause of at least 8 tornados that took place on swedes in Ohio and an Illinois. It’s been reported that nearly 250 milliliters of water fell which caused the overflow of water from the rivers. For instance, rivers like the Elk river rose to at least 9.75 meters (33 ft.) which is this highest it’s been in nearly a century, according to Governor Earl Ray Tomblin.
According to an expertise over at the National Weather Service named Frank Pereira, “It was multiple rounds of thunderstorms that continued to move across the same area, a relatively small area, and the mountainous terrain exacerbated the flooding.”
Another meteorologist, Danielle Banks, said, “There’s been a ton of areas that have been hit hard” by as much as 7 inches of rain.”
If you are thinking about what you could do to help. You can try to contact Save the Children. According to NBC News, it is being reported that the organization is doing it’s best “to determine what the most urgent needs are to protect children’s safety and well-being,” said Anna Hardway, Save the Children’s director of programs in West Virginia. “We know many children are displaced and have lost belongings and possibly homes, and can be very vulnerable after a disaster like this.”
Stay locked in here for all the updates on this story.
http://www.nbcnews.com/news/weather/west-virginia-floods-14-killed-thousands-without-power-n598346
https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.cnn.com/cnn/2016/06/24/us/west-virginia-flooding-deaths/index.html?client=safari#
http://mobile.abc.net.au/news/2016-06-25/20-killed-hundreds-evacuated-in-west-virginia-floods/7543168
TSR Intern: CaDarius B. | IG @cadarius_
