ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, September 7, 1996 TAG: 9609090037
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: S.D. HARRINGTON STAFF WRITER
RESCUE WORKERS monitored the earthen bridge below Interstate 81 that Mason Creek threatened to demolish with the force of its waters. Most residents downstream chose to evacuate.
Torrential rains in the wake of Hurricane Fran brought fear, annoyance, resignation and even a bit of fun to residents of the Roanoke region during and after the storm.
Perhaps the greatest fears occurred near Interstate 81 and Kessler Mill Road, where an earthen bridge below the highway kept Mason Creek dammed up and rescue workers edgy for hours.
A contractor built the bridge across the creek while working to widen a highway bridge. Although three 18-inch pipes were placed through the bridge to keep Mason Creek flowing, a large chunk gave way to the creek's force around 1:45 p.m., sending as much as 12 feet of backed-up water downstream.
Rescue workers nervously monitoring the creek scrambled downstream, going door-to-door urging residents to higher ground.
A few residents at Ramey's Mobile Home Park off Lynchburg Turnpike in Salem opted to stay put. Others frantically shoved television sets and valuables into cars and pickup trucks.
"I hope I can get out of here before another [flood] comes," said trailer owner Bill Bandy, who's had to evacuate four times in the 21/2 years he's lived along the creek.
Fortunately, the waters stopped a few yards short of his mobile home, which sat nearest the creek. Virtually no damage resulted along the creek, Salem Fire Chief Danny Hall said.
Once Mason Creek stabilized, residents of Ramey's and Salem Village Mobile Home Park were allowed back home.
Some residents were just annoyed at having to pack up their belongings.
"This is a mess. It's awful we have to do this," said Opal Dillon, who lives in South Salem but was helping her daughter, Karen Saul, evacuate her mobile home.
Elsewhere in Salem, the Roanoke River was rising by the minute.
A stretch of West Riverside Drive between Colorado and Front streets was closed. The river covered the road in some areas, splashing at lawns.
Ducks invaded yards when the river flooded their normal hangout.
Barbara Moore's children tossed rocks into the debris-laden water of the river.
Moore wasn't sure if she and her family would leave their home on West Riverside.
"I just wait for them," she said, her bowed thumb pointing toward her neighbor's house. "They've been here 30 years or so. When they leave, we leave."
But Chuck Gregory's years on the often flooded road have taught him patience.
He reclined casually in shorts, his feet bare, watching on TV as a tennis ball zipped between Steffi Graf and Martina Hingis at the U.S. Open.
"It's kind of old hat, yeah," he said, unimpressed by water's progress. "I'll mark it and watch it. I don't know if we'll leave or not."
Tenants at Willow River apartment complex between Virginia 419 and Apperson Drive were told to evacuate late Friday afternoon. The complex has had a history of flooding, and Salem emergency crews were expecting the Roanoke River to flood late Friday night or early this morning.
Over in one of Roanoke County's most notorious flood spots, Palm Valley Road, nearly all of the residents opted to stay and fight the rising waters along Carvins Creek Friday morning rather than take flight.
With one notable exception.
The Sun Valley subdivision's only beach-style stilt house hovered silent and empty on its perch 10 feet above the ground. Neighbors said its occupants loaded up their boat and pulled out at 7 a.m., just as the water began seeping into the basements of landlocked homes.
"They're the only ones, and all their stuff's safe," said Carolyn Cole, who lives at the end of Palm Valley Road.
The road, which runs parallel to the creek, was underwater until about 10:30 a.m., creating a natural swimming pool in Cole's backyard for her year-old Dalmatian, Keesha.
"She loved it," Cole said. "I was kind of glad when it left."
Several residents said flooding in the area would have been worse if county officials had not dredged and widened Carvin Creek two years ago.
That was small consolation for 15-year-old Kevin Otey as he hovered over a toilet for more than a half-hour Friday morning, using a plunger and a towel to prevent water from backing out of the sewer and into the house.
"After 25 minutes, your wrists kind of get tired," he said. "It's not worth it. I would rather have been in school."
The Northside High School defensive tackle conceded he was more concerned about Friday night's football game than missed classes. The game was later postponed.
Otey's mother, Kathy, stood beneath their carport where sandbox toys, baskets and a mounted fish had been piled. The creek, which her cat normally can cross easily, was surging against the foundation of the house.
"It looks awful out here, but we've got it fixed so we start pumping as soon as it goes up," she said. "You can't get through a summer without something happening."
Next door, Steve Cuddy had five pumps humming away as he swept what he hoped would be the last of the water from his basement. Cuddy said he stayed up all Thursday night watching the creek get closer.
Although everyone living on Palm Valley Road has seen their share of water, Nancy Wood has more flood stories than anyone.
"I'm the granny of them all," said Wood, who has lived in Sun Valley since it was developed in 1969. Wood said she couldn't count all of the times she's had water in her home, but the worst was the 1985 flood in which she lost a cat and every stick of furniture in her basement except an old green trunk.
"It is an antique and has been in my family, so I'm glad it didn't float out the door," Wood said.
The trunk has proven itself seaworthy, so Wood had stacked her sofa and two recliners on top of it Friday, creating a precarious pile that reached almost to the ceiling.
Fortunately, the creek stopped 5 feet from Wood's house. Although she wasn't prepared to dismantle her inverted pyramid of furniture, Wood said she was beginning to feel safer by mid-day.
"I'm hoping," she said. "Everybody's hoping."
Staff writers Christina Nuckols and Matt Chittum contributed to this story.
LENGTH: Long : 130 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: 1. STEPHANIE KLEIN-DAVIS/Staff Bill Rand, director ofby CNBgeneral services for Roanoke County, stands beside the earthen
bridge near Kessler Mill Road. 2. The structure began to function as
a dam as Fran's rain fell, and the creek backed up behind it
(right). Mason Creek finally broke through a chunk of the earth
Friday afternoon, sending a large quantity of water flooding
downstream (above). color. 3. ALAN SPEARMAN/Staff Matthew Hunt, 13
(left), and Justin Ramsey, 14, push their bikes up what normally is
a road next to the Roanoke River in Salem Friday. 4. Lynn LaDuke
pushes her television into the back of a truck Friday with the aid
of her father, Bud Hickson (front), and her husband, Joseph LaDuke
(back). Her daughter, Jennifer Gobble, also helps the family
evacuate from their trailer at Ramey's Mobile Home Park in Salem. 5.
Steve Cuddy sweeps the water out of the basement of his house on
Palm Valley Road in the Hollins area Friday. Graphic: Map by staff.