PIKE COUNTY MAN PRESUMED DROWNED
By Lee Mueller
EASTERN KENTUCKY BUREAU
A Pike County man was missing and presumed drowned yesterday after heavy rains flooded the Tug Fork of the Big Sandy River Thursday night on the Kentucky-West Virginia state line.
The missing man, Adam Daniels, 24, of Freeburn was reported seen clinging to a swinging bridge that spans the Tug between Freeburn and Majestic, said Ronald Vaughan of the Phelps Volunteer Fire Department.
Vaughan said rescue workers were unable to immediately search for Daniels. "We couldn't put a boat in the water," he said. "That Tug river was running too high and too wild."
Up to 5 inches of rain fell overnight in the Tug River Valley, creating fast-rising flooding that officials said appeared to kill at least four people in Kentucky, Virginia and West Virginia. In Kentucky, 350 homes had to be evacuated.
In West Virginia and Virginia, authorities said at least 12 people were reported missing. Kentucky State Police Det. Mike Goble said one other person reported missing in Pike County was found yesterday.
Daniels' 1996 Oldsmobile stalled on Ky. 194 in high water near the Vulcan Bridge, Goble said. Daniels and a passenger, Rebecca Eldridge, attempted to walk through the water to dry land.
"She made it," Goble said. "He didn't."
High water yesterday lapped high on flood walls between Williamson, W.Va., and South Williamson, Ky., while frustrated rescue workers waited for the water to recede.
Vaughan said the river at Freeburn yesterday was still too high to allow a wrecker to pull Daniels' car from the water.
The National Weather Service said the Tug was expected to crest at least 15 feet above flood stage.
As the water traveled down the Tug Fork of the Big Sandy River, Williamson closed the doors of its flood wall for the first time in its 18-year existence to protect the coal and railroad town. The wall was finished in 1984, seven years after a record flood nearly wiped out the town of about 3,400 people.
Flood warnings were posted in Pike and Martin counties until 8 a.m. today.
"At Freeburn and Majestic, the water was up to the roofs of some of the houses," said Ray Bowman, a spokesman for the Kentucky Division of Emergency Services. "And at the mouth of Hurricane Creek the water is over the road by about 10 feet."
Emergency shelters were set up at a number of schools, including the Majestic-Knox Creek School, and the Pike County Courthouse, officials said.
State police said the deluge primarily struck the Pike County communities of South Williamson, Freeburn, Knox Creek, Majestic and Blackberry.
"This one hit hard," Vaughan said. "It's going to be hard to tell how many mobile homes got washed off."
Pike Judge-Executive Karen Gibson said the only mining-related problem reported involved a sludge pond in the Majestic area. The area below the pond was evacuated while the structure was being examined by state and federal officials, Gibson said.
Meanwhile, dozens of people gathered yesterday on the roadsides overlooking the flood waters at Goody, near South Williamson. In some places, only rooftops could be seen sticking out of the water.
Flooding was not new to Vickie Taylor-True of Hardy.
"In the last flood, I had to be taken out by boat," she said. "At least this time I had enough warning. In the middle of the night is when it's hardest."
In West Virginia, Gov. Bob Wise declared a state of emergency in McDowell County, and the National Guard sent two helicopters to remove stranded residents from their homes.
In Virginia, rescue crews searched along Knox Creek in Buchanan County for five people who were unaccounted for. One body was recovered, said sheriff's dispatcher Vicky Jones.
"People were tying themselves to trees," Jones said. "They couldn't get helicopter assistance in; it was awful.
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