West Virginia woman died in high water incident after severe storms, authorities say

Gov. Jim Justice announced that there was one death in Wood County during last week's flooding in his briefing on Wednesday, April 10, 2024. (Gov. Jim Justice briefing screenshot)

A woman in Wood County died after driving a sports utility vehicle in high water last week, officials say.

Gov. Jim Justice spoke of the death during his administration briefing Wednesday afternoon.

After initially declaring a state of emergency in Fayette, Kanawha, Lincoln, and Nicholas counties for a storm system that caused at least seven tornadoes across the state Tuesday, the governor on Thursday extended the state of emergency to Wood and six other counties because of flooding and other storm related threats.

According to a news release from the Wood County Sheriff’s Office, the incident happened  around 7 p.m. Thursday, April 4 in the 1500 block of Nicolette Road in the Davisville area. The driver of the vehicle was identified as Valerie Ann Swisher, 49, of Davisville.

Authorities say deputies responded to a call from a third party bystander of a vehicle that had gone into high water. The Eastwood Volunteer Fire Department arrived and confirmed that the vehicle partially rolled over, went underwater and that no one had come out of it, the news release said.

Divers from the Little Hocking, Ohio dive team responded and located the vehicle submerged in the water.

“The area of Nicolette Road where this incident occurred is a deep dip in the road way, the involved vehicle was recovered in approximately 15-20 feet of water off of the roadway edge,” the sheriff’s office wrote in the news release. “It is unknown why the driver of the vehicle entered into the flooded area.”

Swisher was pronounced dead at the scene.

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