A Peek into Summers County’s Past: Flood at Summers County High School

HINTON W.Va. (Hinton News) - This isn't a typical old piece in my collection but it is history nonetheless. This was the first time Summers County High School flooded in November 2003 during my senior year. Since this year is my 20th high school reunion I felt compelled to write a piece related to it.

I was always a bit of a history nerd and can recall the terrible downpour that had been occurring that morning for hours. We started school as usual, but it wasn't long until it became anything but a typical school day.

On the ride to school, we encountered creeks out of their banks running across the road. As we got closer to Hinton it was even worse and only escalated as we made our way to the high school. We started our first class and it was still pouring rain.

The windows at the school are long and skinny and go to the ground. We all noticed water starting to creep across the parking lot to the right of the building. It was not long until the water started coming across the railroad tracks and pooling in the area in front of the building. I can remember the water rising against the glass at the bottom of the windows and sloshing around like a fish tank.

At this point pandemonium broke out and no one really knew what to do. I was a member of the yearbook staff and ran and got a camera to start documenting history with. The first set of photos shows the office at the main door to the building.

At this point, parents were coming to get their kids out of the building and the door being opened so much allowed the flood water to enter the building. The vehicles you see are the ones that had parked in front of the building that morning. The house is the house across from the entrance to the school. It is just a little creek beside where that house is in the photo doing all of this.

The second set of photos is of teachers and students going outside to the parking lot to rescue their cars and trucks during the flood. The guy on the far left of the second photo from the bottom is my friend James Leftwich.

After taking these photos and going back into the building and “pulling my yearbook duties” I got the bright idea to go to the auditorium and photograph through the windows where it is a lower section of the building. I didn't realize after you go through the door and it shuts that it then locks.

Here I am trapped in the far end of the building by myself with the water rising outside. I started beating on the door and luckily a teacher out walking the hall heard me and came and let me out.

At this point, they decided to evacuate us to the gymnasium at the old middle school in Hinton. Because the building is shaped like a “C” the water was pooling and rising at the front of it and going around the inner part where the shop building was near the gym.

They took us all to the gym to do a headcount and go outside to enter the buses that had pulled up near the door that is used for ball games. I noticed on the way to the bus that several people had pulled their vehicles up in the grass of this area to prevent them from being damaged by the flood.

To get us out of the building the buses had to drive through the fastest-moving water where the new middle school is currently being built. We made it to the gym at the old middle school and one by one over hours and hours we were all picked up and made our way home throughout the county.

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