6 things to know about Helene’s impact on Southwest Virginia

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The rain falls differently here.

For anyone who lives in or near the mountains, there’s always a voice haunting us in the back of our heads whenever a big storm approaches: Will it flood?

I realize it can flood anywhere, and sometimes does, but floods are different in the mountains. Water doesn’t just rise out of the creeks and rivers, it can also come rushing down the mountainsides. In the mountains and valleys, there’s no room for water to spread out, so it fills up the space available. Often that’s worse because there’s less warning.

That’s what caused the remnants of Hurricane Camille to be so deadly in 1969: The mountainsides in Nelson County and elsewhere simply melted into mud, burying people alive. I grew up hearing stories about the destruction wrought by Hurricane Hazel, and that was before I was born. Other names are etched in our memories: Agnes, Juan, Fran, Michael. Even nameless storms can be fatal: The one that parked itself over the community of Hurley in Buchanan County in the summer of 2021 produced the same phenomenon — water rising from the creeks, mud and rocks cascading down the mountainsides. (The storm is sometimes attributed to what was left of Hurricane Ida but actually preceded the arrival of the remnants of Ida in the region.) Likewise, the random summer storm that got stuck over Buchanan and Tazewell counties in the summer of 2022 and caused significant damage in Whitewood and Pilgrim’s Knob.

We can now add Helene to that list of names — and no names.

We all knew a storm was coming. We all knew it might be bad. It’s always hard, though, to imagine that a storm might be this bad. In Damascus, the flooding was the worst since 1977. For communities along the New River, you have to go back even further for a historical comparision: The river crested higher than anytime since 1940. I spoke Sunday with U.S. Rep. Morgan Griffith, R-Salem, who was touring his congressional district. He marveled at the forces of nature. In Grayson County, the problem wasn’t floodwaters lapping over U.S. 21. No, the problem was the water rushing down the hillsides and excavating the ground under the road. 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. Other places the road was no longer there. “Eighty to 85% of it is gone, just gone,” he said.

Our report in Cardinal today has multiple stories on the damage around Southwest Virginia. Here’s my attempt to make sense of what has just happened.

1. We are fortunate that there weren’t more fatalities.

Two people died, one in Craig County, one in Tazewell County. Given the severity of the storm, it’s a wonder there weren’t more deaths. For some of that, we can thank the rescue crews who pulled some people to safety. The governor’s office reports there were more than 70 rescues by various agencies, some from homes, some from cars, all stuck in rising waters. I wouldn’t be surprised if there were others we may never hear about.

2. We won’t comprehend the magnitude of the damage for days yet.

The storm hit Friday, and stormwaters raged through the weekend. On Monday, local governments had teams in the field trying to get a handle on how much damage had been done in their communities, but they had not yet reported in. There are still places without cell service or internet.

We may have already heard the most dramatic tales (the water in Laurel Creek through Damascus rising 13 feet in just minutes) and seen some of the most dramatic pictures (the trailers floating in the New River in Narrows, the houses knocked off their foundations in Damascus), but the full accounting of the damage is likely to be much higher than any numbers we’re hearing now. Not even the governor’s office has a full sense of the damage. Governor Glenn Youngkin was asked for that figure Monday when he toured the state’s emergency operations center to thank the workers. “It’s going to be big, we’re through all the thresholds,” he said, “but I can’t begin to estimate.”

The danger is that by the time we fully understand the scope of the damage, the attention of those outside the disaster zone will have moved on to whatever the next thing is.

3. We’re looking at years of recovery here.

That’s not hyperbole. That’s just a demonstrable fact. Some of the homes that were promised to flood victims from the 2021 Hurley flood and the 2022 Whitewood flood still haven’t been built. Nature moves fast when it wants to; government moves slow. Those storms were devastating for the communities involved but were also confined to those communities. This is a storm that swept across all of Southwest Virginia. I hate to make things political, but some things already are political. The handling of disaster relief is a fundamental government function, and politics are what make the gears of government go — or not go. If it’s taken three years to figure out how to deal with the aftermath of the 2021 flood in Hurley, how many years will it take to deal with the aftermath of this one?

4. Our politicians get high marks for their handling of the crisis.

This is an opinion, but it’s one I believe is rooted in fact. Natural disasters are a challenge for any office-holder because nature is not susceptible to the blandishments of politics. Nature doesn’t negotiate. It definitely doesn’t care about party or ideology. Over the years, we’ve seen some politicians rise, and some fall, based on their response to natural disasters. Louisiana Gov. Kathryn Blanco was held responsible for that state’s poor response to Hurricane Katrina; President George W. Bush’s reputation took a hit, too. President Donald Trump was likewise faulted for his response to Hurricane Maria. By contrast, when the great Flood of 1985 hit Roanoke, the city was between city managers, so the task of handling municipal response fell to interim city manager Bob Herbert. He did such a good job — cool under fire — that he was given the job permanently. In Roanoke County that year, Elmer Hodge had just been hired as county administrator but hadn’t started yet. When he heard there was a bad flood, he left his then-home in Chesterfield County, drove to Roanoke County and started early — and won plaudits for his crisis leadership.

This time, Southwest Virginia seems to be giving high marks to Youngkin for his response. He showed up in Damascus on Saturday, then returned to Southwest Virginia for a full day’s tour on Sunday that hit Fries, Independence, Narrows and Radford. I realize that’s what governors do — they show up when disaster hits — and I also realize that Southwest Virginia is the most Republican part of the state so is reflexively prepared to like what a Republican governor does. However, Southwest Virginia is also a region that has long felt overlooked in a state where the power and economy has shifted east, and some people seemed genuinely surprised that the governor came not once but two days in a row. The governor’s Facebook page was inundated with “thank you” messages, the most poignant one being this:

Thank you for recognizing there is a small, but mighty group of Virginians who live West of Roanoke. Our small communities struggle daily just for things others take for granted, and these storms compounded the burden. We appreciate your visit!

I saw criticism of Republicans in general for wanting to cut funding for disaster relief (that’s one of the proposals in the Project 2025 report from The Heritage Foundation that some warn will be a playbook for a future Trump administration), but none of Youngkin’s handling of this situation. That’s pretty rare these days. I haven’t heard anyone fault the state’s preparation for the storm; National Guard units were in place to respond, the Department of Forestry mobilized chainsaw crews, state police were deployed.

Throughout the storm, and especially its aftermath, Virginia’s two westernmost state senators — Todd Pillion from Washington County and Travis Hackworth from Tazewell, both Republicans — served as conduits for information. Pillion went to Damascus and, with Olivia Bailey from the attorney general’s office, produced a series of videos over the course of Saturday, Sunday and Monday that updated people on the situation, what they should do, what they shouldn’t do and what resources were available. Hackworth finagled a ride on a state police helicopter to survey damage in his far-flung (Tazewell County to Montgomery County) district and was able to provide a much-needed overview of the situation at a time when individual localities were often still trying to figure that out themselves. When I texted him Monday to see what was new, he sent me a long list of resources available in his district, categorized by locality, that he had compiled. These two were out working on the ground. Other politicians have also toured the region to survey the damage (Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Virginia, was in Damascus, Marion and Galax on Monday) and that’s appreciated, too.

I’ve often observed that in Southwest Virginia, people expect their legislators to serve as quasi-executives when it comes to economic development. This seemed just an extension of that responsibility for their communities.

5. Helene will focus more attention on disaster relief .

Flood relief has historically been a federal responsibility, not a state one. That’s started to change in recent years, although it’s also tied up in politics. The state established the Virginia Community Flood Preparedness Fund, funded by proceeds from the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative — something that Republicans have opposed, arguing that it’s essentially a tax. I would not be at all surprised to see this debate renewed, with Democrats making the case that RGGI helps provide flood prevention money for Southwest Virginia and Republicans contending that there are other ways to do that than by imposing a carbon fee on utilities that they pass onto customers. In any case, the fund is for preparedness, not response.

This also may renew discussion at both the state and federal level about the Federal Emergency Management Administration. People in Southwest Virginia have good reason to be skeptical of FEMA. In 2021, FEMA turned down Hurley’s request for flood assistance, saying the damage there wasn’t bad enough to warrant FEMA’s attention. What many heard was that Hurley was too poor to warrant FEMA’s attention because FEMA’s calculations take dollar value into account. Kaine, Griffith and Sen. Mark Warner, D-Virginia, all protested that, but to no avail. We’ll see how FEMA’s help plays out this time.

Given the scope of Helene’s destruction (and the number of swing states it ripped through), I wouldn’t be surprised to see disaster relief — and which party cares the most about it — surface as a topic in this Tuesday’s vice presidential debate.

6. Southwest Virginia will get overlooked.

Americans have a short attention span to begin with. The national attention focused on Helene’s destruction will soon pass, particularly with a contentious presidential campaign underway. The storm toll in Virginia pales to what happened in other states, particularly North Carolina, so other states were always going to get more attention anyway. The fact that this storm hit in a part of the state that’s considered “out of the way” (unless you actually live here) won’t help when it comes to sustaining political interest in the government actions that will be required in the months, perhaps years, to come.

People in Southwest Virginia will remember, though, likely for generations.

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