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NEWS
Woman dies, W.Va. firefighter missing in flood
CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — A woman died Saturday when she was swept away in a flooded stream in southern West Virginia, and a firefighter was missing after his boat capsized during an attempted water rescue, emergency officials said.
Marty Agee, deputy director of the 911 emergency service in Raleigh County, said authorities received a call about a woman in the water Saturday morning. Firefighters later recovered the woman's body from a rain-swollen stream near her home in Bradley.
Meanwhile, emergency crews and the National Guard were searching for a missing Kanawha County firefighter in Raleigh County. Kanawha County Commissioner Kent Carper said a group of firefighters from the county was sent to the area near Beckley to assist with water rescues. He said a boat carrying the firefighters flipped, and one of the men never surfaced.
The state Senate observed a moment of silence during its Saturday afternoon floor session for the firefighter and the woman. Sen. Mike Green, D-Raleigh, said he had been in touch with emergency responders and they did not expect to find the firefighter alive.
Many areas of West Virginia are under water because of steady rain and melting snow. Gov. Joe Manchin has declared a state of emergency for 34 counties.
Laverne Stout, operations officer for the West Virginia Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management, said the most significant flooding was in the southern counties of Raleigh, Greenbrier, Fayette and Mercer. She said dozens of residents were evacuated from their homes, and 31 were staying in emergency shelters. State highway officials reported dozens of roads closed because of high water.
Jason Franklin, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Charleston, said 1 to 3 inches of rain fell across the southern part of the state Friday night into Saturday. The Bluestone River southeast of Beckley hit a record 17.18 feet at 4 a.m., surpassing the previous high of 15.82 feet in April 1977. Flood stage is 10 feet.
Other rivers were nearing flood stage. Fans attending the girls basketball championships at the Charleston Civic Center were advised to keep their cars out of the parking lot adjacent to the Elk River, which was rising at the rate of several inches per hour and expected to flood the lot.
Minor to moderate flooding was forecast along other rivers and small streams in the southern and eastern parts of the state, but northern West Virginia was largely spared because it got less rain and snow melt than had been expected, Franklin said.
