Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, January 5, 1992 TAG: 9201050215
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By KATHY LOAN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
STORM SOAKS BASEMENTS ABOUT 20 ROADS, 100 HOMES HIT
Like some of their neighbors, Paul and Debbie Bandy of Elliston spent Saturday pumping their basement and assessing the damage from the weekend's steady rainfall.But unlike others in the neighborhood, the Bandys could stand outside their home on Brake Road and see the damage to their basement. Water, gushing from the mountains, rising from Brake Branch and spilling out onto the road, collapsed an underground basement side wall, causing nearby ground to cave in.
By noon Saturday, Paul Bandy had pumped away all but about 18 inches of the 5 feet of mud and water that had broken through his house's brick exterior.
Saturday afternoon, water still was streaming heavily across Brake Road in places just above the Bandy home, flowing across their yard and and driveway.
"It just came so quick, so fast, [and] didn't have anywhere to go," Debbie Bandy said.
The Bandys built the home seven years ago and had weathered flooding in the mid-1980s with only water damage in the yard.
Debbie Bandy said she never dreamed the gushing water would knock in the foundation. It happened between 8 and 9 p.m., she said, just minutes after their 4-year-old twins were put to bed.
"After it caved in, water just flooded in," Paul Bandy said.
The basement housed the family's furnace, water heater, winter clothes and the children's toys, Debbie Bandy said.
In the New River Valley, most of the damage from the steady rainfall was limited to the eastern portion of Montgomery County in the Shawsville, Elliston and Lafayette communities. In all, about 100 homes and mobile homes received water or storm-related damage. About 20 roads were affected.
The National Weather Service reported 1.6 inches of rain fell Friday in Pulaski, while 1.79 inches were logged at Roanoke Regional Airport. Heavier rainfalls were recorded at Ironto, 7.76 inches; Crawford's Ridge in northern Montgomery County, 5.84 inches, and Copper Hill near Floyd, 6.32 inches. Also, Bedford, 0.90 inches; Adney Gap in Franklin County, 5.36 inches; Ferrum, 4.84 inches; Apple Orchard Mountain in Botetourt County, 3.36 inches.
Billy McDaniel emerged Saturday night from his sister's river-ringed house, pants rolled up to the knees, and yelled from the front porch out to his father and sister waiting in the street: "Well, we're down to 3 feet."
He was talking about the basement of the home on Riverside Drive in Salem, which was flooded more than 4 feet deep Friday by the fat and angry Roanoke River.
"I knew there was a flood in '85, but I didn't know this was going to be a problem," Susan McDaniel said after returning from a trip to the grocery store with her father, William. McDaniel recently purchased her house and moved in on Dec. 10.
William McDaniel had to take her to the store because her car was stuck in the 2 feet of water surrounding her garage.
McDaniel lost heat and hot water because the furnace is in the basement. "We're still trying to dry everything out," William McDaniel said.
Some occupants of nearby Riverland Mobile Home Court left their homes Friday night when the river threatened to soak them. But the water did little damage to the park and only a few families left, said manager Leroy Clements.
However, the rising waters cut off access roads to the park, meaning for part of Saturday there was no way to get in or out.
But by Saturday night, most of the flooding had subsided. Salem street department worker Doug Hartberger, patrolling the streets after a long day - and previous night - said trailer-park residents had all moved back in.
"It's starting to go down real good now," he said.
Streets that had been blocked off for the night were also reopened Saturday.
Salem City Manager Randy Smith stayed out until 2 a.m. watching the flood waters. It was a slow rise, and he said Salem had problems only in the usual areas - the low-water bridge on Mill Lane was clogged with debris and a bridge was closed off West Riverside Drive west of the low-water bridge. As for the trailer park, "It's been happening so many years, people know the routine," he said.
Montgomery County Sheriff Ken Phipps - who took office Wednesday, - was out until 4 a.m. Saturday, helping coordinate efforts to combat flooding in some of the county's lower regions.
"I finally got the moisture out of my clothes . . . I think," he said later Saturday, when the rain had stopped and the sun peeked through the clouds.
People in Montgomery County had been warned of flooding Friday night, but many chose not to leave their homes, Phipps said.
At one point, the community of Lafayette was closed off when the roads were covered by water. Still, people stayed.
About 10 people were evacuated - including one elderly woman who had to be led across a swing bridge - and no homes were lost.
Staff writers Mike Hudson, Madelyn Rosenberg and Neal Thompson contributed to this story.