Storm cleanup continues across Southwest Virginia, as magnitude of devastation becomes clearer

The remnants of Hurricane Helene have left a swath of destruction across Southwest Virginia that killed two people and damaged or destroyed more than 100 homes and businesses, according to preliminary estimates from government officials.

A woman died in Craig County when a barn and large tree blew over, and two sheriff’s deputies were injured at the site. Another person died at Tazewell while cleaning debris when a large tree blew over, according to a National Weather Service storm report. First responders made more than 70 rescues in Southwest Virginia, the governor’s office said, some from homes, others from vehicles caught in the rising waters.

In Pulaski County, County Administrator Jonathan Sweet said the preliminary estimate is about 45 homes “significantly impacted” with a full count yet to come. “We have also lost churches and businesses in and around Pulaski County,” he said.

In Giles County, tourism director and economic development coordinator Cora Gnegy said the preliminary estimate is 35 to 40 buildings destroyed countywide.

[Read more about the aftermath of the flooding in one Giles County town: Pembroke residents among Southwest Virginians with harrowing stories from flooding .]

In a video posted on Facebook, state Sen. Todd Pillion, R-Washington County, said as many as 30 homes in and around the town of Damascus may have been lost. He said by text that a full assessment of the damage would start Monday. “The true scale of the damage caused by Hurricane Helene’s remnants ravaging the region may not be known for some time,” Pillion said.

Gov. Glenn Youngkin returned to Southwest Virginia on Sunday for a second day of touring flood damage. He called the damage “heart-wrenching.” State Sen. Travis Hackworth, R-Tazewell County, hopped a ride on a state police helicopter Saturday to survey the damage from the air.

“Heartbreaking!” he said in a text message. “I have 32 years of construction and development experience and knowing what lies ahead for these communities breaks my heart!”

President Joe Biden has officially declared seven localities in Southwest Virginia as disaster areas — Grayson, Smyth, Tazewell, Washington, Wise and Wythe counties and the city of Galax — which will make them eligible for federal aid.

As of Sunday night, more than 106,000 power customers in Southwest Virginia were still without electricity, according to the utility data aggregator poweroutage.us , down from nearly 200,000 Saturday morning. The largest numbers were in Tazewell County (more than 14,000), Carroll County (more than 12,000), Russell County (more than 11,000) and Grayson County (more than 10,000).  Almost all those are Appalachian Power customers.

In a statement, the utility set out this restoration schedule:

• 11 p.m. Monday for the areas of Christiansburg, Fieldale, Stuart, Pulaski and Rocky Mount.
• 4 p.m. Tuesday for the Roanoke area.
• 11 p.m. Tuesday for the areas of Bluefield, Glade Spring, Glen Lyn, Grundy, Floyd, Lebanon, Tazewell, Woodlawn and Wytheville, as well as Kingsport, Tennessee.
  

The storm that hit Friday followed a week of frequent rain, with rain totals of more than 10 inches in some places west of Interstate 77. Wind gusts on Friday frequently topped 40 mph for as long as six to eight hours — with gusts over 60 mph measured at Hillsville and Grayson Highlands State Park — downing thousands of trees across the region.

Hackworth said that an estimated 10 acres of debris has washed into Claytor Lake in Pulaski County. In Roanoke County, Appalachian Power is warning boaters to stay clear of Niagara Dam on the Roanoke River in Vinton. Debris brought on by the current heavy rains broke the floating boat barrier that keeps boaters away from the dam.

Roads and bridges have been destroyed in many places. In the Grayson County town of Fries, “there were trees floating down the river — straight up,” said U.S. Rep. Morgan Griffith, R-Salem. “They hit the bridge and the bridge got moved.” He said it will likely need to be replaced.

He toured Southwest Virginia with Youngkin on Sunday, visiting Independence, Fries, Pembroke, Narrows and Radford. He said in many places he saw whole sections of road intact, but washed into people’s yards. “The asphalt was just lifted up,” he said. Outside Independence, the county seat of Grayson County, water rushing down the mountainsides washed the ground out from under U.S. 21.

“Eighty to 85% of it is gone, just gone,” Griffith said.

In Damascus, a popular outdoor tourist destination along the Appalachian Trail in Washington County, Laurel Creek rose 13 feet in minutes on Friday.

In a video, Pillion and Olivia Bailey of the attorney general’s office urged sightseers to stay away from Damascus because emergency crews are still busy clearing power lines and trees off the roads. The town’s water system has been knocked offline and can’t be restarted until after power is restored, which might not be until Tuesday, they said.

They said the storm there was the worst since 1977, while the New River saw its highest levels since 1940. At Radford, it crested at 31.03 feet early Saturday, trailing only the epic 35.96 crest on Aug. 14, 1940, also caused by hurricane remnants wringing out torrents on western North Carolina and Southwest Virginia mountains. Drone footage showed parking lots and outdoor athletic facilities near Radford University completely inundated by floodwaters.

The National Weather Service in Blacksburg issued 21 tornado warnings Friday as tight rotation was detected by radar in rain bands and isolated storm cells within the high-shear northeast quadrant of Helene’s circulation. Surveys will be conducted to determine how many tornadoes actually touched down. Two have already been confirmed .

In Bedford County, an EF-1 tornado with 105-110 mph winds caused minor damage. A slightly stronger EF-2 tornado near Dry Fork in Pittsylvania County injured one person, damaged 30 structures and destroyed a mobile home.

After touring the region by helicopter on Saturday, Hackworth spent much of Sunday on the ground with the governor.

“What I also saw today everywhere I went was volunteers and neighbors helping each other clean up, dig out, bring food, water and other necessities to their neighbors. One man in Narrows standing outside The Iron Skillet told me, ‘Senator, we will get this place cleaned back up in no time because we help each other.’ I couldn’t have been more proud of where I live when I heard that.”

Sweet, the county administrator in Pulaski County, also expressed confidence that, in time, “the community will fully recover and the resources that are necessary will be made available to those in need.”

Kevin Myatt, Dwayne Yancey and Kate Flannigan contributed information to this report.

What you can do to help:

• Bottled water, cleaning supplies and non-perishable food items for people in the town of Damascus are being collected at the Washington County Government Center in Abingdon and the Damascus Rescue Squad.

• Report trees entangled in power lines and any other hazards to the Virginia Department of Transportation’s 24-hour Customer Service Center by visiting my.vdot.virginia.gov or calling 800-FOR-ROAD (367-7623).  VDOT crews cannot conduct work on downed trees that are entangled in power lines until the local power company has ensured the power line is not energized.

The state’s response:

• The Commonwealth of Virginia Incident Management Team (COVIMT) has deployed a team of 12 people to assist Grayson County.

• The Virginia State Police is currently providing troopers to prevent looting and add additional law enforcement support in the Town of Damascus.

• Virginia State Police helicopters from Abingdon helped authorities in Tennessee rescue 40-45 people trapped on the top of a hospital in Unicoi, Tennessee.

• As of Saturday, state police Swift Water Rescue Teams had rescued 16 people, 2 dogs and 7 cats.

• The Virginia National Guard staged approximately 20 soldiers in the Abingdon area. On Friday, soldiers with chainsaws deployed to three different locations in the region to help deal with downed trees and also assisted state police with a high-water evacuation of a family from their home. On Saturday, they also assisted with evacuations near Damascus.

• The Virginia National Guard also staged three helicopters in the Roanoke area. On Friday, they helped rescue five people.

• The Department of Forestry dispatched 11 chainsaw crews to help with downed trees and have helped reopen 817 miles of roads.

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