Emergency Declared in West Virginia as Tornadoes and Flooding Ravage Counties
A strong storm system, including tornadoes, raced from the South to the Ohio Valley, destroying numerous businesses and leaving tens of thousands of people without power.
According to CNN, West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice declared a state of emergency on Tuesday due to “flooding, downed trees, power outages, and road blockages” in Fayette, Kanawha, Lincoln, and Nicholas counties.
Sixteen tornadoes were reported over Illinois, Kentucky, Ohio, Alabama, Tennessee, and Georgia on Tuesday and Wednesday morning, with gusts reaching “100 mph in Kentucky.”
According to the National Weather Service office in Peachtree City, the tornado in Georgia went 9.5 miles and was 800 yards wide, with winds gusting up to 115 mph, earning it an EF2 tornado rating.
According to USA Today’s database, more than 361,000 households in several states, including New York, Wisconsin, and West Virginia, were without power as of Wednesday night.
According to reports, the storm system has injured and killed at least three people:
- Mary Baker, an 82-year-old woman, was killed in Collegeville.
- Michael Kranyak, a 70-year-old man, was slain in Aston Township.
- A Kentucky man was killed in Campbell County.
- According to CNN station WPVI, Baker and Kranyak perished in similar circumstances
- when their cars were hit by a falling tree.
Mike Rice of Collegeville, who purportedly witnessed officials rushing to Baker’s help, stated, “The fire department had the jaws of life and they were trying to cut her out of the car when I came out.”
Susan Zvarick of Collegeville went on to say that trees in their neighborhood had been falling all year due to “moisture and high winds” in the weather patterns.
Rice went on to say, “With those trees swaying back and forth, who knows? You never know what will happen to tall trees in this wind. “It’s a bad combination.”
Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear responded, saying, “But listen, the loss of one life, and I believe this is a young man, is a tragic occurrence, and we’ll be praying for him and his family.”