The sun does not always shine in West Virginia…

...but the people always do. This piece is dedicated to those who lost their lives and those still cleaning up after June 14.

Editor’s Note: This piece was written for and read at a fundraiser event for Ohio Valley Mutual Aid on Tuesday, June 24. OVMA has dedicated its time since the floods to coordinating relief efforts for the folks who need it most. If you would like to donate to support their work, you can do so here. If you would like to offer your services to clean up houses, work still needs to be done. OVMA is operating out of St. Mark Lutheran Church (141 Kruger Street) from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. every day.

Saturday the 14th was like any other Saturday in June. Muggy from previous rains, but with the sun shining bright, the people of Ohio County were out passing footballs, swimming in their pools, grilling hotdogs and hamburgers, drinking ice-cold beers, and preparing for the next day's father’s day celebrations. It was like any other Saturday in June…until it wasn’t.

As evening approached night and the sun began to set, the devil himself swirled above our heads and conjured up a show only he would enjoy. Dark, ominous clouds pushed east as they jumped the river with a target set for the hills. In thirty odd minutes, four odd inches of rain poured on the already-saturated hills and hollers of Ohio County. The rains were heavy and swift, but, worse, they were specific and targeted in their attack.

Valley Grove, Triadelphia, Elm Grove, and the hills that surround these crick communities saw the brunt of devastation. In a flash, eight people perished and one more remains missing. Dozens of families had their entire house and all their belongings washed right down the crick. Many more kept their belongings in their homes, but those bits and pieces of their existence were left muddied and soiled, battered and bruised, and buried in inches and feet of mud and debris.

Daylight broke Sunday and the survivors of the flood saw in the morning light their lives laid bare. The people from communities untouched by the wrath of the waters rose with the sun to see that devastation, too, behind their phone screens, computers and tvs; and, at the same speed of the prior night’s rains, the people jumped to the frontlines to offer their assistance.

While first responders continued their searches and rescues, the citizens began their recovery and relief. One volunteer quickly snowballed into an avalanche of support to help those most in need. Braving the heat and humidity, the mud and mold, and the debris and devastation, volunteers came from across the county, state and nation to serve this community. A young man from New York City, a local state Senator, a pipeliner from Pennsylvania, an Ohio County teacher, two friends from Chattanooga, a North Carolinian who dealt with Hurricane Helene last year, a Wheeling intensive care nurse on her day off, a man from Milton, a woman whose own basement was full of mud and debris: they came as they were ready to serve.

As we meet here nine days after the floods, an immense amount of work remains despite the efforts of countless volunteers. Some of the jobs are easy — cleaning and sanitizing homes visited by other groups — while other jobs still require the removal of mud, water and debris, and the demolition of soaked and soggy baseboards, carpets and walls. In many regards, we are still on step one of the recovery. Despite the challenges, the job will get done by the grace of god and the grace of volunteers.

President John F. Kennedy once said, “the sun does not always shine in West Virginia, but the people always do.” The sun didn’t shine on the people of Ohio County on June 14, but the people — our people — will always shine. Adversity is all this state has known; but, as a lifelong West Virginian, I know of no problem that can’t be solved by a West Virginian. While this particular problem is a mountain today, there will come a time when we will shave it down to a molehill. There will come a time when the sun shines again in West Virginia.