Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, June 29, 1995 TAG: 9506290103
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: FROM STAFF REPORTS
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
A couple, their 5-year old son and their son's nurse were trapped in their home on Garden City Boulevard in Southeast Roanoke when the neighborhood creek flooded. Firefighters rescued the family and carried the son - who was in a wheelchair and needs a ventilator to breathe - to safety through a neighbor's front lawn.
Salem city workers and police evacuated a woman from her Main Street home when water lapped against the front door and rolled completely around the house.
An animal control officer waded in knee-deep water to lead a woman and her two children from their home on Poff Lane in Salem after the bridge to their road washed away.
Floodwaters in the valley were receding late Wednesday - although the threat of more rain remained through the night. The Roanoke River was expected to crest at 11 feet-just one foot above flood stage-at 2 a.m. today.
But Franklin County was being pelted by heavy showers, and the entire county was placed under a flood warning about 9 p.m.
Sheriff W.Q. "Quint" Overton said the county was bracing for the worst. Rains already had caused a mudslide that closed a section of Virginia 613 in the Naff community.
"There's nowhere for the water to go," he said.
Rising water also was causing problems on Virginia 684 in Franklin County, and creeks were beginning to come out of their banks, especially around Boones Mill, Overton
(below this point did not appear in paper due to a lost jump).
said.
As of 9:30 p.m., though, no emergency calls had been recorded.
A Boones Mill rescue worker said county Public Safety Director Claude Webster and Virginia Department of Transportation officials were hustling from place to place to close roads being covered by water.
In Moneta in Bedford County, water had crossed the railroad tracks at one spot, said John Dooley, coordinator of emergency services. And the eastbound lane of Virginia 24 a half-mile west of Staunton River High School was blocked by a mudslide.
About 80 campers were evacuated from Camp Easter Seal in Craig County, according to Terry Jones, director of communications for the American Red Cross. Jones said the campers are staying at Craig County High School.
In Roanoke County, about 30 homes were evacuated in the Mason Cove area near Mason Creek, said Donald Gillispie, county fire marshal.
A mudslide on Virginia 311 near the top of Catawba Mountain blocked a lane of traffic. Rocks stalled traffic in the southwest part of the county on U.S. 221.
In Roanoke, seven houses were damaged by flood waters on the 1900 block of Meadowbrook Road, including a foundation being wiped out in at least one house, said Wanda Reed, Roanoke's emergency medical services coordinator. Also, three houses were damaged on Wise Avenue behind Fallen Park.
Reed said a shelter was opened at William Ruffner Middle School. However, as of 11:30 p.m., no one had taken advantage of it.
Red Cross officials asked people who need shelter to call 985-3560, emergency services, for the closest shelter.
In the Garden City neighborhood in Southeast Roanoke a bridge at the intersection of Garden City Boulevard and Riverland Road was closed, Reed said.
About 270 animals at the Roanoke Valley SPCA were evacuated because of potential flooding. SPCA Vice President Lynda McGarry said floodwaters 2-feet deep came within 10 feet of the building. Many of the animals were taken to animal hospitals; others were picked up after a plea was made over radio stations.
Salem Deputy Police Chief James R. Bryant said he knew the city had serious problems about 6 p.m. when authorities got their first rescue call from Poff Lane.
``Smaller streams are posing more problems for us,'' he said. ``It's the ones that have not given us problems before that are giving us problems now.''
Problems meant closing Fourth Street between Maple and Union streets, closing West Main Street from Chestnut to Shank streets, evacuating two trailer parks and rescuing several people who were stranded in homes by the flood.
Ray Steele brought his 12-foot Bass Tracker to the Salem Police Department and waited on the front steps, just in case. The boat is able to navigate water as shallow as 6 inches deep.
``I figured I could get into a lot shallower places than they could," he said. "I'm not afraid to get involved if people need help, they need help.''As of 10 p.m., rainfall for the afternoon and night in parts of Roanoke measured nearly 5 inches.
When Karen Jones saw the water receding in the creek near her house at 2930 Garden City Blvd. S.E., she thought she would have enough time to get her family out before the water rose again.
Five minutes later, she began to panic. The water had not only risen, it had covered the bridge to the road. Jones knew her family would be trapped in a matter of minutes.
"My son's on a ventilator. He's wheelchair-dependent and we can't get him out," she said by telephone while awaiting rescuers. "My husband's here with us, and the nurse is here. Oh God, I'm panicking. We're just praying to God that they'll be able to get Kane [her son] out."
Jones watched helplessly as one of the family's vans floated down the creek. Rescuers couldn't get to the Joneses from the front of the house because the road was blocked. Finally they found a way into the house and got the family out."We've been here for 30 years, and we've never seen anything as worse as this. I've never seen the water get this high," said a neighbor, Estelle Coffey. "Even the flood of '85 wasn't as worse as this."
Coffey watched from her window as rescuers carried Kane Jones - secured safely in his wheelchair - to safety, with his parents and the nurse coming behind.
"The water is down now," Coffey said. "We are all safe. This house has been here for a long time, so I think it'll take a lot more than this to move it. And it's quit raining."
In Salem, Rome Johnson was rescued after water surrounded her home on Main Street.
As rescuers held Johnson's arms, she gingerly navigated the steps hidden under several inches of water.
She left on the tailgate of a city truck, with her rubber boots dangling over the flooded street.
On Poff Lane, Ginger Kirby; her 7-year-old daughter, Melissa; and her 10-year-old son, Jonathan, walked to higher ground after the bridge connecting their Poff Lane home washed away and water covered the driveway.
Linda Albert, a Salem animal control officer, waded in knee-deep water to lead the Kirbys out after floodwater from Bowman Creek stranded the family.
Frank Hodges, a resident of the Bowman Creek area for the past 78 years, watched the water rise and fall and was unmoved by the flooding.
``This is nothing compared to '85,'' he said. ``It don't look like much to me.''
He said the creek is usually so tame a person can step across. But not Wednesday night, when it widened to 15 feet of deep, fast-moving water.
Staff writers Lisa Garcia, Sheba Wheeler, Diane Struzzi, Ron Brown, Todd Jackson and Shannon Harrington provided information for this story.
by CNB