Forty-four people were reported missing as of Thursday morning, the Buchanan County Sheriff’s Office said, as the death toll remains zero.
Six inches of rain in just hours Tuesday caused extensive damage in Buchanan County, West Virginia, CNN meteorologist Robert Shackelford said. “Combined with the fact that the area is mountainous, rainfall can accumulate quickly and dangerous runoff has resulted,” he said.
Just because people are missing doesn’t mean they’re truly missing, officials stressed. Phone lines in the area are down, making it difficult to contact anyone affected by the flooding, Virginia State Police spokeswoman Corinne Geller told CNN on Wednesday.
The total of 44 reflects those whose loved ones have not been able to reach them and cases where law enforcement is “trying to reach and locate the person and check on their welfare,” the Buchanan County Sheriff’s Office said Wednesday in a Facebook post.
The storm was swift and devastating, with widespread flooding and road closures reported in just a few hours. Radar estimates show 6 inches of rain fell in about four hours starting at 8 p.m. Tuesday, which corresponds to a rain event with a 1 in 1,000 chance of occurring in a given year.
“We were sitting in this post office here and the next thing you know, the house floats down. We thought it would wash her away. Two of the houses were blown away,” local resident Seth Owens told CNN affiliate WCYB.
Virginia’s governor has declared a state of emergency to aid recovery efforts.
As the search continues, the forecast for Thursday and Friday calls for sunshine with high temperatures in the lower to mid-80s before a slight chance of rain on Saturday that increases Sunday and Monday, according to the National Weather Service. The destructive storm was among several that lingered Tuesday night over the county and parts of Kentucky, West Virginia and Virginia.
This region of the Appalachians is among the most prone to flash flooding in the country, with many areas also most at risk due to the growing threat of heavy rains, according to a CNN analysis of a report last year by the nonprofit climate research group First Street Foundation.
The climate crisis is also exacerbating flash floods by increasing rainfall rates, or the amount of rain that falls in a short period of time. A warmer atmosphere can hold more water, making extreme rainfall more likely.
Alleys “fell into the mountain”
Events like this, which dump huge amounts of water in a short period of time, “have increased in frequency and intensity in the Southeast,” according to the U.S. government’s latest National Climate Assessment, “and there is strong confidence that they will continue to increase in the future.”
The National Weather Service issued a flash flood warning for Buchanan County around 8:30 p.m. Tuesday. About two hours later, local authorities began reporting widespread flooding and road closures.
Dominic Fragoso, who lives in Whitewood, said the water came up to his kneecaps.
“One of our neighbors’ driveways completely collapsed and fell down the mountain and fell into the creek,” Fragoso told the station.
The storm system also hit Greenbrier Campground in Gatlinburg, Tenn., where more than 400 people were evacuated Wednesday after more than 8 inches of rain fell, said Perrin Anderson, Sevier County assistant mayor for government affairs.
“Debris and vehicles swept downstream in the middle mouth of the Little Pigeon River from the campground,” Anderson said.
More than 100 homes were damaged in southwest Virginia, said Billy Crimes, a search and rescue specialist with the Virginia Department of Emergency Management.
“It’s going to take time for access to be restored so we can go in,” Crimes said.
Roads were blocked by landslides and approaches to bridges were washed away by the storm, he added.
“In the wake of the devastation, I want Virginians in Buchanan County to know that we are making every resource available to help those affected by this storm,” Gov. Glenn Youngkin said in a statement. “As the rescue and recovery continues, please join me in prayer as we lift up our fellow Virginians affected by this tragedy.”
Correction: An earlier version of this story was wrong when it rained heavily. It was Tuesday.
CNN’s Claudia Dominguez, Brandon Miller and Raja Razek contributed to this report.
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