Becky Phillips and her family went to Tennessee early Tuesday morning to visit family. They wanted to escape from the phone calls and all the attention their family had gotten following the flood that destroyed their home in White Sulphur Springs.
When they came back Wednesday night and met local reporters for an interview, they learned the search for their missing 14-year-old daughter Mykala Phillips had ended.
"I knew they were going to stop, because you know, these people have to go back to work and their own lives," Becky Phillips said. "I just figured they would have waited a little longer."
It has been a month since floods ravaged through some communities in West Virginia. A month since the Phillips' home on Mill Hill Drive was knocked off its foundation. A month since Mykala Phillips washed away.
Becky Phillips was out when the floods came, working at The Greenbrier - only a 15 minute walk from home. When a sudden wave of water came hurtling down Howard Creek and crashed into the home, her family had no other choice but to jump in the water. It was that or be washed away with the house.
Mykala and her two brothers tied themselves to their father, James Phillips, with extension cords they found in the home. Once in the water, Mykala was at the back of the line to make sure her youngest brother, Carter, 7, didn't get swept away.
Then the water, rushing by so fast, ripped the extension cord keeping her tied to her family. She went surging with the water away from the family.
Many volunteers and local emergency officials had been out for days, sometimes late into the evening, searching for Mykala and two other people who had gone missing in Greenbrier County - Lisa Blankenship and Nataysha Nicely.
The Phillips family had spoken to the White Sulphur Police Department, and they knew how strained their resources were, but they never thought the search would end this fast.
All the while, Becky Phillips was just trying to keep her family together.
"The phone rings all the time," she said. "That's all it does is ring."
Friends, neighbors and people she had never met before all wanted to know how they could help. The family went back a few times to visit their home, but because the flood water was so high, it ruined almost all of their belongings.
All of their clothes, shoes, furniture and Mykala's stuffed Mickey Mouse toys were ruined.
For two weeks, Becky held onto hope that somewhere, by some grace of God, search crews would find her daughter alive. For two weeks, she waited by the phone.
"Now, I'm concerned they'll probably never find her body," Becky Phillips said.
The Phillips family is trying to get back into a normal routine. Saturday was Becky's first day back at work, and she has a full 40-hour week ahead of her.
She really wants to be out searching, but she can't. Neither can James Phillips - he's got a bad back and broke his foot during the flood. A few people have posted to Facebook that they would like to continue searching for Mykala, and the family said they would appreciate all the help they can get.
In the meantime, the Phillips will continue to move into the new home they just bought, and soon they'll start talking about a way to honor Mykala's life.
"[The Federal Emergency Management Agency] said they would pay for her funeral and everything, but we have to find her first," Becky Phillips said. "It's hard to really do anything because something can't be done until they find the body."
Reach Jake Jarvis at
jake.jarvis@wvgazettemail.com,
304-348-7939 or follow
@NewsroomJake on Twitter.