ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, January 20, 1996 TAG: 9601220037
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: PULASKI
SOURCE: PAUL DELLINGER AND KATHY LOAN STAFF WRITERS
Too much and too little water plagued Pulaski residents Friday, as floodwaters rushed into communities throughout the New River Valley, blocking streets, filling basements and clogging water pumps.
In Giles County, three dogs that were tied up near homes drowned before their owners could free them.
Nearly 2 inches of rain fell in three hours early in the morning. It sent Peak Creek, which winds all through Pulaski, rushing noisily under bridges and creeping up banks.
Debris in the muddy-brown waters clogged Pulaski's water pumps and left its water treatment plant running at about 50 percent capacity. The town got water from Pulaski County for much of the day, until the county began having problems with blocked intakes at its treatment plant.
Pulaski industries were asked not to carry out operations requiring water Friday, and citizens were asked to conserve. Town Engineer John Hawley said industries and laundries could go up to half of their normal water use today, and maybe more by the end of the day. He said town officials would contact them when more water was available or if conservation measures had to be made more severe.
Pulaski police, rescue and fire personnel were out early Friday morning keeping an eye on rising waters and advising people who needed to get out of their homes. The Salvation Army arranged for eight families to stay at the Budget Inn in Pulaski. "If it's not snow, it's rain," said Ken Daya, the motel's manager.
Floodwaters in Pulaski covered roads, the bases of homes, and swept away at least one car on Lottier Street. Dora Highway simply disappeared into the water at one point.
Water started to rise as early as 2 a.m. and cut off U.S. 11 traffic along railroad tracks at the entrance to the town, although trains kept going by. It receded by afternoon so traffic could come in that way once more. Impassable spots along the Virginia 99 (East Main Street) entrance into town forced traffic detours off and back onto that road until later in the day.
The water from Peak Creek had started going down by afternoon, said Pulaski County Emergency Services Coordinator Stan Crigger. "The only thing that's still going up is New River."
In Giles County, downtown Narrows braced for possible flooding today from the New River as water continued to rise from both Friday's rain and leftover snow.
Wolf Creek was out of its banks around Narrows, covering some roads, lapping at houses, and partly covering the town park.
In Pembroke, water rose to window-level at two houses at Hilton and Main streets, washed out a bridge, and covered five cars.
There was "just an incredible amount of damage," said Pembroke Town Manager Randi Lemon. He said the "microburst" of warm rain melted piles of snow rapidly. "I never saw so much snow disappear so fast," he said.
Across the street from the two houses, neighbors suffered only flooded basements. Nancy David stood on her porch with her daughter, Stephanie Mitchener, watching Mitchener's 5-year-old son, Mac, take a child's innocent delight in the mess, fishing bottles and other treasures out of the water.
"It's starting to recede," David said. "This has never happened to us before. It started before 6:30 a.m. - that's just when I realized it." Normally, she said, the creek near her home is small, usually dry.
"It hasn't been out of its banks since the '70s," Mitchener said.
Linda Boggs, director of Giles County's Department of Social Services, found few residents looking for shelter at Giles High School Friday morning. She said people usually find relatives to stay with, and the temporary shelter would close that afternoon if no one else showed up.
Boggs' staff will take applications Monday for emergency assistance through the American Red Cross' Radford chapter. County officials likely will begin assessing the damage over the weekend.
A mudslide between Narrows and Rich Creek mixed with the remaining snow and slush to create a chocolate milkshake-like consistency. The slide covered one lane of westbound U.S. 460. State Department of Transportation workers used a front-end loader to scoop up the muck, then hauled it off in a dump truck.
In eastern Montgomery County, people used to dealing with flooding went about their business Friday with one eye fixed on the rising waters.
"We've had so much trouble down here, we kind of patrol a whole lot. We try to get ahead of it," said Clyde Hodges, assistant chief of the Elliston FIre Department.
Many house and trailer occupants in this relatively low-lying area live near the Roanoke River's banks, but none had to be evacuated, officials said.
Most emergency calls concerned drivers swamped while attempting to ford water-covered secondary roads. One had to be rescued from the roof of a car that stalled on North Fork Road, Hodges said. The driver was fine but the car had to be abandoned.
Dan Brugh, resident engineer for the state Department of Transportation, said high water covered 20 to 25 flood-prone roads in the New River Valley. "We avoided the worst," he said.
Two Montgomery County secondary roads, Dry Branch and Taylor Hollow, may have sustained damage, he reported.
Maxine Vaught woke up at 4 a.m. Friday to the thunder that shook her Shawsville home. She spent the rest of the morning and afternoon watching the brown torrent rush over her front yard.
"I don't know what we'd do if we got sick or something," she said.
Vaught and her disabled husband, Homer, have lived parallel to North Fork Road, sandwiched between the railroad tracks and the river, for 30 years.
She said she doesn't remember seeing the water this high since 1992, when the bridge that attaches her Delta Lane to North Fork washed out.
This time, the water was several feet below the bridge, but the Vaughts were still stranded as their small lane disappeared under water.
The only way to get out is to climb up the hill behind their small wooden house and walk along the railroad tracks to the bridge access.
The Vaughts have been stuck on their muddy island on and off since Jan. 6 - when 2 feet of snow trapped them inside. Maxine Vaught said she hopes this will be the last of flooding, at least until spring.
"We do like it here - it just gets complicated when the water comes," she said.
Meanwhile, Bill King's big blue pickup sloshed around the intersection of Parrott Mountain Road and the appropriately named Parrott River Road. Usually, Back Creek demands little attention as it runs quietly through this area. Friday, you probably could've called it "Parrott River."
"This is normally just a field," King said, surveying water about 4 feet deep.
"It's a chance you take when you live on the water," said King, who lives on top of a mountain.
The intersection in Parrott, an old mining community, sits on one side of the elevated railroad tracks. The New River flows past on the other side, moving faster Friday as melting snows and the remnants of Thursday night's rainfall swept branches along.
A few houses along the river were cut off on Friday.
Ann Collins lives in one of them with her husband, Jeff. "Let's say my back room is now a pier," she said. She mentioned the Jimmy Buffett song with the line that goes, "I don't know where I'm a'gonna go when the volcano goes."
"That's kind of our theme song, when the river comes up," she said.
Staff writers Allison Blake, Lisa Applegate and Rob Fries contributed information for this story.
LENGTH: Long : 145 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: 1. In Pulaski, the yard of this home off Commerceby CNBStreet was flooded by overflowing Peak Creek. color GENE
DALTON/STAFF
2. Five-year-old Mac Mitchener watches overflowing Sinking Creek in
Pembroke as it floods homes and laps at the edge of his lawn at his
grandmother's house. color ALAN KIM/STAFF
3. Bud Atkins wades through Sinking Creek to get to his house,
which was surrounded by flood waters. Atkins lives in the Maybrook
section of Giles County along U.S. 460. color
4. A Pulaski police officer diverts traffic away from a flooded
section of Virginia 99. color ALAN KIM/STAFF
5. Traffic was stopped on U.S. 460 between Narrows and Rich Creek
as a Transportatin Department crew cleared away mud and snow that
had been washed onto the westbound lane. color.