Letter from Homer and Linda Hickam
Dear friends of Coalwood,
Friday May 3, McDowell County, West Virginia was just devastated by mudslides and flooding and hardest hit is little Coalwood. Good people, old retired miners mostly, who did nothing wrong - the valley is just so narrow, that much water had nowhere to go except down the road and into their homes. They had so little, and that is gone too.
We are very busy concentrating efforts to get them some national relief and better press coverage. No one died in Coalwood thank goodness, but this is a such a disaster and their spirits are so low. Only 10% of the homes were unflooded and many had water to the ceilings, and no one has insurance. What they need most is large earthmoving equipment, pumps etc. to get the water and debris cleaned up enough to begin cleanup in the homes. Then the shovels and mops and pails can come out, but with that much damage, houses cannot be reinhabited for months. So sad. Needless to say, the October Sky Festival planned for Oct 5 is on hold and probably won't happen...
Please keep them in your prayers, and if you would like to help, the people below are wonderful and will get the money helping Coalwood directly.
Thanks you so much for caring,
Homer and Linda
"Friends of Coalwood" Flood Relief Fund Please, send no clothes, food or supplies... what they really need is funds to use as needed for Coalwood and McDowell County and also volunteers for cleanup. Both hard working and big-hearted groups below are registered charitable organizations 501 (3-C) so money given can be taken off your taxes.
Make checks payable to either organization.
McDowell Mission Inc. Big Creek People in Action
P.O. Box 746 HC 32 Box 541
Gary, WV 24836 Caretta, WV 24821
(304) 448-2227 (304) 875-3418
(304) 448-3762 fax (304) 875-3518
Executive Director: Jay Wilson Executive Director: Frankie Rugherford
WJWMMP@aol.com frankipr@hotmail.com
* *David and I thank you for your kind comments about our web site. We will continue to keep you informed and ask that you give a helping hand to keep Coalwood spirits high so the people may endure the coming months of trying to rebuild their homes.
Below is my personal view of Coalwood the day we drove in to take supplies. I wrote to several friends late that night after coming back to VA to let them know we were home and what we saw. I debated about posting this, but I hope this will give you some idea of what it was like there that day. I can't imagine the pain and sense of loss our loved ones are feeling nor the endless tasks that are ahead of them trying put their lives and homes back together.
******Dear Friends****************************************************************************************************************
I am having a hard time writing this. There is no way to describe what we saw today (5/4). Yes, I had to go, but never, never did I think I would see such mass destruction of roads, homes and "nothingness." It didn't take long before the tears were flowing like Tug River.
We drove in through Tazewell, Bishop, passing Caretta. The street we call Tennessee Avenue was nearly one car passable. The once sidewalks were sunk in a gully 6 feet deep on each side of the road. The road had numerous rock/mud and tree slides. Only a few were blocking one lane.
As we drove into Coalwood rounding the curve at "Six" I had the camera rolling, and I am glad I only saw through the view finder. I don't know how I could have filmed otherwise. I would be filming and David would stop the truck and start giving drinking water, brooms and snow shovels. As he was handing those out I was thinking, "How can something so small help them clean such a massive amount of mud as they were facing?" There was not one person we saw today who wasn't mud soaked from head to toe.
As we drove past the former Homer Hickam home I was in for more of a disbelief of devastation and destruction. The water had moved asphalt like it was cotton washing the dirt out from under the road to leave gaping holes, moving asphalt in chunks from the middle to the side of the banks or in the creek. Or the water pushed the dirt so far in one place that the road heaved upward creating large humps. The road was cracked and shifted as if there had been a tornado. Top layers of asphalt were rolled like a wet carpet, tossed aside to dry. And then there were places that used to be road, but now is a high mound of mud,rocks and debris pilled so high that you need a truck or 4/wheel drive to get through. The home where David grew up was hard to see. There "used" to be a foot bridge to his front porch. It was made from railroad steel beams and concrete. It lay sideways, all broken up in the creek. The front of the house was smashed in. The Little League Park, and Cassell Park where we hold our festival every year is destroyed. But funny thing, the NASA rocket held in place.
We finally got to Frog Level and I still couldn't believe my eyes. Water there was 5 feet deep or more in those homes. No road...
You cannot imagine the mud and water and, most of all, the look on people's faces. Faces I know so well. We thought we had done a good thing by taking our little truckload of water, brooms and shovels. I am sure we did, but it was harder to leave, knowing we couldn't stay to help.
There were cars, campers, boats, outdoor buildings, heat pumps, etc., that had floated away, piled up against some other structure. Cars buried in mud up to the door handles. One trailer of an elderly widow was completely twisted around and had landed on her car.
We learned that they were letting you go through Welch by routing you over the railroad tracks at HC Lewis at Coney Island. So we drove through to Welch and up Stewart St. The July 8 flood was a drop in the bucket compared to this one. The windows were blown out of the store fronts on McDowell Street. The Flat Iron Drug Store and the old Murphy's are gutted. There is nothing left.
But guess what? David and I ate at the Sterling, along with the workers who were brought in here to work on the power lines. The carpet was muddy, but the food and service were just a wonderful as ever. A state trooper said we could get back to Bluefield, but we were detoured along the bank at Landgraff. I knew in the back of my mind where we were, but let me tell you, nothing could have prepared us for what we saw.
The road was blocked just before you started into the small straight stretch. Remember there used to be a mines on the left? We had to drive back through there and go around behind Cherry Key Inn. I guess the State bulldozed the road. We drove right through the middle of the outdoor theater to get on the other side. Here is why: the river took a turn and is now flowing right down the middle of the road.
Oh, what didn't get flooded at Maitland in July, did this time. There is not one single house or trailer that didn't get flooded this time.
On Virginia Avenue, the water was 6 feet deep! Wolf Car business is no more. No building, as well as no cars. I am jumping now, so bear with me. The road is still impassable at the No. 1 Hospital going to Hemphill. Water and flooded vehicles, including a coal truck, are stuck in all that mess. Kimball is a lot worse too.
So there is my report. I may have left something out, but it doesn't matter. You get the picture from all this. I have never seen any thing like it and I pray I never do again.
Good night, Rhonda
