Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, June 24, 1995 TAG: 9506270013
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RON BROWN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
As torrential rain overpowered stream banks on each end of Goshen Pass in Rockbridge County on Friday morning, two groups of people retreated to rooftops, prayed and eagerly awaited rescue.
By Friday evening, safe from the rampaging waters of the Maury River and its feeder streams, they sat calmly and told their stories.
``You just think about your whole life,'' said May Lewis, who was rescued from the top of a Goshen mobile home with her son, his wife and two dogs. ``When material things are taken away, there is not much else to think about.''
Lewis, her son Steve Evans and his wife, Theresa, had plenty of time to think. They had a 41/2-hour wait for help to arrive.
As the rapid waters of Mill Creek whisked by them, they could feel the sandy foundation washing from beneath the trailer, Steve Evans said.
The family left all their possessions behind.
The only thing Theresa Evans took the time to do before climbing to the roof with her husband's help was to place family photographs on higher shelves.
Steve Evans helped his wife, his mother and the family's Pomeranian and collie mix to the roof, from where they were all rescued.
Lewis said the family cat and two neighborhood dogs weren't as lucky.
``You could hear the dogs barking, then all was quiet,'' she said. The cat was last heard mewing from a tree in the yard.
Evans said he started calling for help shortly after he realized that the creek was out of its banks about 5:30 a.m. Realizing they couldn't escape on their own, the couple called 911 and Theresa's mother, Peggy Cole, who urged dispatchers to send help.
As the sandy soil beneath the trailer shifted, the stay on top became terrifying, Lewis said.
``It was a terrible feeling,'' she said. ``The trailer was moving. The light poles were moving. You feel like you're going to die.''
Goshen firefighters and rescue workers, who hoped to get helicopter help in making the evacuation, also were frustrated at their inability to get to the family.
Finally, they made a decision to enlist the help of a Goshen area logging company, Two Brothers Logging, in making the rescue.
At first the loggers used a log skidder, which was lighter and less likely to get stuck in mud than other equipment, in a futile attempt to break through washed-out roads. It got stuck. They then attempted to use two bulldozers, which also got stuck.
They were finally able to make the rescue about 9:30 a.m. after tying a winch to a tree and pulling the skidder free.
Elsewhere around Goshen, residents of trailer parks and an apartment building left their homes in hopes that the floodwaters would subside. The flood left its imprint on the Mill Creek Cafe, which had a water stain 4 feet above its foundation on the outside. County officials were still trying to assess the damage Friday afternoon.
Up the road at Rockbridge Baths at noon, state highway crews were hurriedly clearing fallen trees and other debris from Virginia 39. Emergency service workers estimated that about 4 feet of water from the Maury River and Hays Creek was standing in the highway at the flood's peak.
Shelters were set up at Buena Vista, Glasgow and Goshen on Thursday night for residents who had to leave their homes. Some stayed in their homes, even though rescue workers asked them to evacuate.
As floodwaters withdrew Friday afternoon, many residents started going back home, authorities said. Two others had just been rescued from the swift current of the swollen Maury River, which sprayed water 7 to 8 feet into the air as it hit rocks.
Mary Franklin Lohr, a Strasburg schoolteacher, and her cousin, Julie Boward of Staunton, had staked out a spot of their own on the roof of their cabin as the Maury rushed past their front door.
Lohr, who spends each summer at her river cabin, admitted she was a little bit reluctant to leave the cabin Thursday evening, even though she knew the water was rising.
After all, she was a veteran of the much-worse 1969 flood.
``We got a little apprehensive once we saw that the water was continuing to come up,'' she said.
By 3:30 a.m., access had been cut off to and from the cabin.
Still, Lohr had all the conveniences she needed. The cabin had not flooded and was full of food. The phone was still working. A diabetic, she could get to her medical supplies.
Boward, who was visiting Lohr, said that she was feeling jittery when the water first started rising, especially before daylight when the roar from the rushing river was relentless and she couldn't see the water.
``It was just the anxiety of not knowing whether you'd get out,'' she said. ``It seemed to be huge waves, just like the ocean.''
As daylight came, the two women could see rescue workers in the distance. They signaled they were OK by waving a white sheet in response to workers' questions.
State police helicopters were tied up with flood rescues in Campbell County and were not available, particularly in an area where floodwaters were receding.
But shortly after noon, a Coast Guard helicopter from Elizabeth City, N.C., arrived, dropped a rescue line and hoisted the women aboard before flying them to safety.
Boward said she grew calmer as the ordeal went along. ``It felt strange. I said a few prayers.''
Lohr, 60, said the rescue left her no worse for wear.
``How do you feel?'' she was asked by a gaggle of reporters who rushed at her when she stepped from an ambulance at the Rockbridge Baths Fire Department.
``Fine,'' she said. ``I wish I could have seen more on the helicopter ride.''
by CNB