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The Flood of 2002
Contributed by: Justin Addair

On Thursday, May 2, McDowell County, along with a few other counties, was ravaged by yet another devastating flood. Unlike the flood that happened in 2001, this one was a whole lot worse. The water levels were about three times higher than the last one. Water wasn't the only thing that caused problems in McDowell County, but mudslides were another great factor that caused a lot of damage and fatalities.
Brandie and Nikki, two of my good friends that live in Welch, were with me the day that it happened. We first heard of the flooding when Brandie received a phone call from her mom and dad saying not to come back home that night because of the dangerous situation. We were all worried for our friends and relatives who live in McDowell County. Despite Brandie's parents wishes, she and I headed toward Welch on Rt. 52 later that night assuming that the water had receded. When we made it to Northfork we could see where the water had been in the road, and we could also see the water line on the buildings where it had risen up to about two and a half feet. I started to realize that this was a whole lot more serious than the last one. The closer we got to Welch, the worse the damage was. Every town we went through from Bluefield to Landgraff was almost completely destroyed. Everything was so dark, quiet, and deserted.
We had to turn around at Landgraff because it was completely under water. We would have to find a way into Welch the next day. That morning we decided to go through Beckley and back through Pineville to get into north Welch. It took a while but we made it. When we got there we noticed that water had got up to the rim of Brandie's porch, but luckily there was no damage to her home. We couldn't get into Welch that day so we decided to wait till the next day. All day that day on the scanner we could hear the desperate cries from the emergency workers needing help, but it was really no use. Nobody could get in to help people that were hurt. The people that did get in to help them had no way to get them to a hospital because of the mudslides. When you hear things like this it really brings a great deal of sadness to your heart.
When we were finally allowed into Welch, the damage we saw was horrific. There was mud piled on both sides of the road about six feet high. Cars were mangled on the sides of the road, and trailers were wrapped around trees and completely destroyed. People were standing out on the streets and in front of their flood ravaged homes with looks of disbelief, anger, and complete horror. We could do nothing but drive on by and feel helpless. We both knew that there was nothing we could do that would even come close to easing the pain that these people were going through.
We returned to Brandie's home in shock at what we had seen. It's hard to believe that one minute everything is fine, and then the next minute everything that you own and have worked for is gone. All of my heart and prayers go out to everyone who has had to endure this terrible tragedy.

Contributed by Sheryl & Beth Thomas

My name is Sheryl Thomas, I work as an aide in kindergarten at Bradshaw elementary.
We sat in the dark in our school for over two hours and thank God the phones still worked, my daughter Beth wasn't coming home that evening until later, her boyfriend was to pick her up after school so they could clean the car together for the two proms she was going to, Brandon's at Baileysville on Friday and Beth's at Iaeger on Saturday.
I called her boyfriends mother and asked her to keep calling Iaeger High school and she promised she would, I also kept trying and finally got the secretary, I asked if she would deliver the message to my daughter that she was to come home and she said she would.
Brandon's mother also called and got through and was told the message would be delivered.
I went to my car after bus duty to wait on the bus to arrive in our parking lot at Bradshaw with my daughter and Rosemary Cook said I had a phone call, it was my daughter Beth, she hadn't gotten the message due to lack of communication, I thought I would die, I told her to sit still I'd be coming soon, Beth didn't realize the dangers and neither did I until I started my 13 mile journey to Iaeger High school.
As I drove through what looked like river beds, lightening, and heavy rains I could see her bus pass by, I thought if only she was on it, I saw her friends driving past my car and again thought maybe she could of gotten a ride with a friend, but she was sitting in Iaeger High school waiting on me.
By the time I got to Beartown it was a river, it looked like Beartown had washed completely out , but I managed through it very slowly, and there were slides coming out, but nothing as bad as it got later on.
As I went through Long Bottom it was so dark and the lightening was terrible, I had never seen lightening like this, and finally I arrived to Iaeger safely.
Beth was sitting with the secretary and the principal on the steps, we heard later Mr. Christian had lost his home and Dena couldn't get home since her hollow had washed out.
As we started on our way, Beth saw a road filled with water, she said is this the worst part, I assured her it wasn't.
We got to Long Bottom and I drove through what looked like a river to get to the pay phone, called my mother and told her I had Beth, I didn't let on how bad it really was and the lightening struck and static was on the phone line, I said bye, I love you and hung up the phone.
We kept going and by the time we got to Sandy River Middle school the hollow to the right of us was coming out, we couldn't rush through the mess on the highway for fear of hurting the car, it was something to see.
As I drove I was getting short of breath and the thought of a heart attack was close by, but I feel sure what I was feeling was anxiety. My jaws were clenched tight and I was chilling from being wet from top to bottom from bus duty.
We got to Ritter and saw up in the hollow, it was like a nightmare to see what was taking place, by the time we got to Grapevine, we could see more mud slides, it started to hail then, I thought a rock had hit my car, but it was hail, we drove right out of that and then to a steep curve at Beartown, again this one looked like a river too, and we got through it, by the time we got to Beartown hollow, we could see it no longer looked like a hollow, we drove past that and on to another place in the road that was full of water, when we got to Sunamco, we felt better, a coal truck was following me and when we got to the area above Bradshaw, I put my foot on the break, thank God the truck didn't hit us, and all of a sudden these logs rolled out in front of us, it looked like someone was throwing them out of the mountains one by one, and followed by this was water and rocks, thankfully the coal truck was able to see me stop, my daughter started crying and said we could of been killed and I said our Lord was looking over us, she said you put your foot on the break, I said that wasn't me breaking, I don't recall even breaking, I said we have to go back now, and I motioned to let the coal truck know I was backing out of that mess, I wasn't waiting for another slide, we felt trapped, but Beth opened her door in the pouring rain and I opened mine and she guided me back, and then I turned and drove to Sunamco.
We got out and called my mother again, I told her we were fine and we'd call when we went to a lady's house nearby.
We went to Lucy Thomas's home and she gave me dry clothes and stayed there for about an hour until we could see traffic wasn't blocked anymore. We thanked Lucy and left.
We saw the debris, rocks and water still there, the logs had rolled into the creek, we drove through all of that and Bradshaw was flooding as well as Jolo, thank God we made it home, we just came into my moms kitchen and all three cried.
I truly feel the Lord saved us that day. I have had dreams almost every time I sleep, this sure gives a person reason to be more thankful everyday of what we have. My heart goes out to those without homes, muddy yards, lost precious memories, and lives, I was spared for awhile longer as well as my daughter, I thank God and want everyone to know how good he was to me on May 2, 2002.