Laura Loding (lloding@cox.net) wanted to share this with you I don’t know if you all have seen this or not. I it appears that the Marcum cemetery at Pie was affected too. Laura [1]Devastation by MICHAEL BROWNING, Managing Editor VARNEY â A flash flood washed through much of Mingo County and the Man area, Friday night and early Saturday morning, causing mass destruction and at least two injuries. One death reportedly resulted from the flooding. According to reports to The Logan Banner, a Gilbert-area firefighter died after suffering a heart attack while providing aid in the flooded areas. The Logan Banner was unable to confirm the reported death at press time Saturday night. At least two injuries were reported Saturday morning after a house reportedly collapsed in the Gilbert area. Those were also unconfirmed late Saturday night. Around 1 a.m., Saturday morning, flood waters were rising in the Varney area of Mingo County and a rush of water coming out of a hillside at Pie shoved tombstones off their graves at the Marcum family cemetery. Residents in the flood areas began moving cars to higher ground and packing clothes and other items as they headed for safety. By 5:30 a.m., roads were blocked in the Belo, Delbarton, Taylorville, Red Jacket, Pie, Musick and Horsepen areas. In Gilbert, several sections of Browning Fork were washed away. Gilbert Creek suffered heavy damage to the road and several homes. Residents of Bruno and Greenville and other areas near Man were evacuated from their homes and told to seek higher ground. State Route 80 from Man to Gilbert and U.S. Route 52 going out of Gilbert were both blocked by debris and flood waters covering the highway. State Route 65 from Belo into Delbarton was blocked in several places by swift-running waters. State Route 49 from Williamson to Matewan was blocked by rock slides and debris in the road. U.S. Army Sgt. Eric Parsley, who came home from Fort Knox to visit his mother for Motherâs Day, made it all the way from Kentucky to Williamson, but had to turn around and got back due to the blocked roads leading to his motherâs home at Sprigg. At Hardy in Pike County, Ky., Corridor G was under water at the Velocity Market grocery store. Belfry High School near Hardy was being used as a shelter. Several fire departments were also in use as shelters. At Lincoln City in Delbarton, families watched from their upstairs windows as Pigeon Creek ran like a river around their homes. Burch High School was surrounded by water and some of the rooms at Gilbert High School were flooded. The Mingo County Career Center at Delbarton also appeared to have suffered some flooding. The Gilbert High School baseball field was destroyed, as was the Little League field sitting nearby. Man High Schoolâs prom, scheduled for Saturday night at the Larry Joe Harless Center in Gilbert, was postponed to next weekend. In the Gilbert area, Arville Cline and his wife, Georgetta, watched as the hillside slid down and moved their home several feet off its foundation. Arville Cline, the pastor of Sharon Heights Assembly church, said he and his wife made it safely out of their home. âWeâve lost 15 feet of the church parking lot,â Cline said. âWe had a slide on our home and it shoved our home off its foundation and buckled the roof and the floor. Plus, thereâs a potential slide behind our office. We left our home at 3:30 a.m. and spent the rest of the morning in the church sanctuary as we watched the water take its toll.â At Varney, 93-year-old Garnette Clark fought back tears as she assessed the damage to her home of several decades. Clark’s house at Musick Bottom had several inches of water inside and thick mud blanketing her front yard, something that had never happened in past floods â even in 1977. “Oh, isn’t this awful,” Clark said as she looked at her home that had been badly damaged by the raging waters of Pigeon Creek. Chris Beckwhit, a Man resident and the post master at the Delbarton Post Office, was out early trying to figure out how he was going to get the post office open since his three employees were all trapped at Varney. Ralph Maynard of the Elk Creek area said he marked where water had been on his home during the 2004 flood and Saturday morning the water was five inches above that mark. “This one is worse than the 2004 flood,” Maynard said. Greg Dixon and Vickie Bailey walked over the rubble and mud that had covered the Marcum cemetery. He said the water rushed out of the top of the mountain. “This has to be caused by strip mining,” Dixon, who takes care of the cemetery, said as he searched for missing tombstones. âAll this came from the top of the mountain.â Just down the hill from where Dixon and Bailey found one of the lost tombstones r ests the grave of Taylorville businessman Wirt Marcum, whose tombstone was half covered, but was one of the few to survive the torrent. U.S. Route 52 in front of the cemetery was covered with several feet of mud. A path was cleared for one lane of traffic to travel between the mounds of muck. At Varney, Ralph Manuel and his brother, Frank, stood atop a badly damaged bridge and tried to dislodge trees and garbage trapped underneath that was causing water to flood Ralph Manuel’s yard. At Gilbert High School, a U.S. Army helicopter landed with a crew from the National Guard out of Parkersburg. Sgt. Alex Huffman said the flooded area is definitely a disaster area. "Itâs the worst disaster Iâve ever seen and I was down at (Hurricane) Katrina and what Iâve seen in some of these small communities was worse than Katrina,â Sgt. Huffman said. Longtime Delbarton resident Bobby Robertson stood on the bridge at Lincoln City and watched as floo d waters rose around houses. The bridge was halfway under water and popping from all the debris crashing underneath. Rick Hatfield, a Varney native, was also at the bridge watching the flooding and said he had tried to get home to his wife and children, but couldn’t. He said his wife had to evacuate their home and took their young baby with her. Amanda Brooks and Cassie Dotson watched with friends as Pigeon Creek overflowed its banks. The two Varney natives braved the high waters to get to Delbarton to check on friends who were flooded. They watched as debris crashed into the bridge at Lincoln City. At Pie, Eddie Fields’ home cracked in the middle after flood waters washed the foundation away from one end of his home and broke a room away from the house. Curtis Marcumâs home at Lincoln City had nearly four feet of water in the downstairs section. He said heâd never seen destruction like that in his life. âMy heat pump is completely under water and Iâve lost stuff I wouldnât take anything for,â Marcum said. Carl Thompson of Taylorville kept close watch as flood waters rose throughout the night and saw a neighbor’s trailer wash into a tree in his yard. A building in Thompson’s yard was rushed downstream by the current and he was trapped after his bridge went with it. âI sat out on the porch and watched it come up,â Thompson said. âMe and my wife thought weâd leave out the back way, but everything out back was under water. I watched my building float off and my neighborâs trailer move over. It was scary. Once it started raising it came fast. It completely covered my fence and you couldnât see the bridges.â The number of bridges destroyed by the flash flooding was in the double digits along Pigeon Creek, Island Creek and Gilbert Creek. Several community centers were being used to give flood relief. The American Red Cross was already in Mingo County by 5 p.m. Sa turday and the National Guard was assessing the damage so troops could move in to help with the cleanup. âThis is devastating,â Commissioner Baisden said as he looked over at Chafin Funeral Home in Delbarton that was surrounded by water early Saturday morning. âWe encourage everyone to help their neighbors.â Gov. Joe Manchin was reportedly going to tour the Mingo County area this morning. A report said he planned to tour the Gilbert and Matewan areas. Mingo County Commissioner David Baisden was out early Saturday morning, as was Mingo County Sheriff Lonnie Hannah. Baisden said "this is Mother Nature’s wrath poured out upon us. I encourage those who pray to pray.â Several Department of Highways crews were dispatched throughout the two-county area to work on roads that were blocked or broken. Appalachian Power had crews out working to restore power to numerous communities. Tree-trimming companies had workers out cutting trees in Mingo C ounty. Thanks for reading! Logan Banner - Classifieds, News, Businesses, and Events in Logan West Virginia References 1. http://loganbanner.uber.matchbin.net/bookmark/2537000