Thursday, January 18, 1996
Department of Highways Superintendent Jamie Abdella said the total snowfall for the county is 48 inches for the week of January 13 – 19.
Cold temperatures kept the snow on the ground until early this week when temperatures in the 40s began what may be the biggest January thaw we’ve had for quite some time.
Thursday, January 25, 1996
Second ‘500 Year’ Flood in a Decade
Just a brief decade after flood waters inundated Pocahontas County, another deluge, just as devastating demolished homes and businesses along the Greenbrier River, Knapps Creek and many smaller streams in outlying areas.
In Durbin, Jason Bauserman’s scanner was buzzing with emergency calls. At 6:00 a.m. Buster Varner made a plea, “I hope Marlinton is listening! You all better get ready down there; something bad is coming.”
“The sky was so dark,” Bauserman said, “I didn’t realize it was already 7:30, time to phone my official Bartow weather statistics to the National Weather Service in Charleston. Shockingly, the rain gauge stick measured the maximum of 2.30 inches of overnight rain, and it was still raining! With the warm wind melting the blizzard of ’96 snow, and nearly 5 inches of precipitation plummeting downhill, I was surprised and shocked. In disbelief, I told my wife, Julia, that we were in for a bad one…”
In Marlinton…
It is 1985 all over again and worse. With temperatures in the teens and twenties, clean-up is a struggle for most victims.
Marlinton is by far the worst damaged area. Both banks, Marlinton Elementary School, McClintic Public Library and every downtown business sustained major damage as well as homes all over town.
Farther up the river, Durbin was without water for four days after a water main broke near the banks of the Greenbrier River.
In East Cass, houses were damaged as well as the Cass Scenic Railroad shop and the parking lot. Seven miles of railroad track from Spruce to Bald Knob were damaged in sections…
According to interim Emergency Services Director Tom Dunbrack, floodwaters crested in Marlinton around 2 p.m. at approximately 20 feet.
