More than six weeks after massive flooding hit Clendenin, the people of the small Kanawha County town are still trying to clean up and rebuild. On Thursday, they got a few more hands to help with the work.
More than 70 employees from TransCanada, the company that took over Columbia Pipeline Group at the beginning of July, volunteered to go to the flood-ravaged town to help with the ongoing cleanup. Their goal was to help rebuild some of Clendenin's businesses, which found themselves enveloped by water on June 23.
The natural gas transmission company employees broke into teams early Thursday, helping to pull nails, sweep floors and repair the town's business district.
TransCanada is just one of dozens of business, church and community groups that have volunteered their time to help rebuild the communities hit hardest by the floodwaters. Without them, Clendenin Mayor Gary Bledsoe isn't sure how the town would recover.
"It wouldn't be anywhere near where it is now, without the volunteers," Bledsoe said.
Even with all the help, though, the town's recovery has been slow. Many of the main streets remain vacant. Homeowners trying to rebuild their property are living in campers and trailers. And with more than 40 percent of the town's tax revenue derived from business taxes, Bledsoe said the city is going to have a drastically reduced budget for the foreseeable future.
"We're going to have some wounds that stay open for several months, and some scars that will last for some time," he said.
TransCanada, and many other businesses, are contributing what they can to help with the rebuilding process. The company is donating $50,000 to the state's RISE WV Grant Program, a public/private partnership announced by Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin in July.
Scott Castleman, the company's communications manager, said much of that money will be earmarked for cleanup in the Clendenin area, where TransCanada has two compressor stations and an office.
TransCanada sustained damage to its Cobb Compressor station, near town, Castleman said, and will have to demolish its local office because of flood damage. The cost to the company has been in the millions, he said.
The company, Castleman said, understands the need to get the rest of the town's businesses up and running again, which is why its employees were chipping in to rebuild Ores Pharmacy, Mama Payne's Diner and other businesses in downtown Clendenin.
"The viability of this town could depend on getting these businesses running," Castleman said. "We really wanted to get out here and get involved."
Dale Thayer, owner of the Dento Bushido Kai Karate Association, was one of the business owners being helped out by the TransCanada teams. The floors of his building on Main Street were still warped from the floodwater. The basement was still a mud-strewn mess.
The Small Business Administration had approved Thayer for a low-interest loan, but he doesn't want to go into debt to rebuild.
He is going to try to get his karate gym operating again by paying for everything out of his own pocket. He doesn't have many other choices.
"I'd have to pay somebody to take it off my hands," Thayer said.
Bledsoe, who continues to run his town out of a makeshift office, said he believes things are slowly getting back to normal.
The town's pharmacies are distributing medicine. The State Farm office on Main Street had employees working in an unfinished office. And the Rite Aid, across the river, is expected to be fully operational again by the end of the month.
"This is a big morale boost today, too," he said.
Reach Andrew Brown at andrew.brown@wvgazettemail.com, 304-348-4814 or follow @andy_ed_brown on Twitter.