Flash flooding caused by torrential rains killed five people in northern West Virginia, and rescue crews were searching for three other people who were missing Sunday, as authorities assessed damage to roads, bridges, natural gas lines, and other infrastructure.
Officials said 2.5 to 4 inches of rain fell in parts of Wheeling and Ohio County within about half an hour on Saturday night.
“We almost immediately started getting 911 calls for rescue of people being trapped,” Lou Vargo, Ohio County’s emergency management director, said at a news conference Sunday. “During this time, we had major infrastructure damage to roads, bridges, and highways where we couldn’t respond to a lot of incidents. So we were delayed in getting there because there was just so much damage.”
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