RICHWOOD - As an inmate work crew from Huttonsville Correctional Center cleaned up the concrete pad beneath the ruined hardwood floor of the basketball court in Richwood High School's auditorium, volunteers just outside the building used a forklift to load pallets of bottled water, dry pet food and disposable diapers onto a trailer for a short haul to a newly designated distribution site at the former Richwood National Guard Armory.
On a street bisecting a grassy vacant lot a short distance behind the armory, dump trucks deposited the remains of homes and businesses destroyed during or condemned after the Cherry River raged through this Nicholas County town four weeks previously.
A track hoe operator lifted and piled the debris onto a steadily growing mountain of shattered joists, rafters, flooring and framing.
It's an all-too familiar scene for Bob Henry Baber, who topped a field of 10 mayoral candidates by one vote to be officially named chief executive of the town of 2,000 one day before the flood struck.
"When I was elected mayor the first time [in 2004], I took over from Bob Johnson right after a flood," Baber said Thursday. "This time, I took over from Bob Johnson again, and again it was right after a flood. But this time, I think Richwood's response to flooding will be altogether different. What we've been doing this time is looking down the road and seeing how we can shape our recovery from this disaster into something that will help sustain us as we move into the future."
For instance, work done by an area contractor to build an access road and clear a space around the flood-damaged intake system for Richwood's water plant can have a post-disaster use as a new public road to reach one of the nation's few city-owned swimming holes, located just below a small, scenic waterfall on the North Fork of the Cherry at the eastern edge of town.
"We'll have a great new entrance to the swimming hole and a place to build fire pits and put picnic tables. We can turn it into our own Shangri-La," Baber said.
Richwood, with a slumping oil and timber economy and a 46 percent poverty rate, has scores of neglected and abandoned buildings that were cleared for demolition before the flood, but the city lacked funds to take them down and haul them away. Removal of these structures would remove eyesores and free acres of land within the city for new uses.
In the days immediately following the flood, Baber authorized the demolition of nearly 40 abandoned homes perched on rain-soaked hillsides that showed signs of slippage or exhibited other imminent public safety concerns.
"The National Guard will use our comprehensive list of verified, substandard properties to demolish more abandoned buildings" in conjunction with the demolition of flood-damaged buildings condemned by the Federal Emergency Management Agency inspectors, Baber said.
A post-flood road built to access Richwood's sewage plant could be extended another half mile, Baber said, to reach an open, grassy hillside owned by the city.
"It, or a city-owned tract on Hinkle Mountain, could provide sites for the new schools," Baber said.
Nicholas County Schools Superintendent Donna Burge-Tetrick announced Thursday that Richwood High School and adjacent Richwood Middle School, severely damaged in the June floods, may never reopen, or at a minimum will have a delayed opening for the coming school year.
A special meeting of the Nicholas County Board of Education to address the schools' future in wake of the flooding will be held at 7 p.m. Tuesday at Nicholas County High School in Summersville.
While many town residents were shocked to learn that their high school and middle school buildings may be condemned, "We could end up with a $20 million new school that's the best in the area," Baber said.
The two schools have been damaged several times in previous floods.
"If you were trying to design a place where a school would be most likely to get flooded, that's where these schools were put," Baber said.
Meanwhile, Hosanna Industries, a Pittsburgh faith-based nonprofit, announced it has pledged $1.5 million in flood relief for Richwood residents, including construction of 15 new homes for low-income families left homeless by the flood and repairs - including new drywall, electrical wiring and insulation for 30 damaged homes.
Hosanna also said it plans to supply needy flood survivors with 30 furnaces, 50 hot water heaters, and 120 washers and dryers.
Baber said Hosanna Industries is working with the city to apply for a $650,000 federal grant to pay for further flood repairs.
"We would like to put 30 new green homes on the grassy hillside and repair 50 more homes," Baber said.
The June flood revived talk around Richwood about the need for a new dam on the South Fork of the Cherry River, about 5 miles upstream from town.
The idea first emerged in the mid-1980s, was revived after floods in 2001, 2003 and 2004, and remained under review by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers until 2008, when the proposed dam was determined not to provide enough benefits to justify its $350 million cost. A $30- to $60-million floodwall plan for Richwood apparently also was dropped.
"We were told at the start of the planning process that the town would flood again if the dam wasn't built," Baber said. "Well, they didn't build it, and we've been flooded again. I think it's time to take another look."
Since becoming Richwood mayor for a second time, Baber said, life has become "an emotional yo-yo. I've cried tears of grief and tears of joy. But what a gift to be elected mayor. I'm excited for Richwood's future."
Reach Rick Steelhammer at
rsteelhammer@wvgazettemail.com,
304-348-5169 or follow
@rsteelhammer on Twitter.