The Inter-Mountain photo by Destiny Judy The Whites Run road in Randolph County was washed out by severe flooding on Sunday morning.

The Inter-Mountain photo by Destiny Judy
The Whites Run road in Randolph County was washed out by severe flooding on Sunday morning.

HARMAN — The cleanup has begun in Harman following Sunday’s severe flooding, but Route 33 east of Elkins is still closed, officials said.

“U.S. 33 remains closed due to damage to the road just down behind Harman, as well as potential bridge damage that is being evaluated,” Randolph County Commission President Mark Scott said Monday afternoon.

“We currently don’t know for sure the extent of any damage to the bridges but we do know that there is a lot of damage to the roads. The DOH has been out there hauling rock all day long and they are progressing on it, but it is going to take a while to get fixed. That is estimated to take up two weeks, to fix the road damage on U.S. 33,” Scott told The Inter-Mountain.

Sources report that the huge hole created by floodwaters in the road between Job and Whitmer has been temporarily filled in and traffic has resumed on that road.

Scott said that Gov. Jim Justice’s declaration of a State of Emergency in Randolph, Tucker, Grant and Pendleton counties will be a huge help in rebuilding.

“We are very grateful that the governor declared a state of emergency,” Scott said. “That opens up resources to us that we would not have had otherwise. We are really appreciative of the governor’s declaration. I did a county declaration early on Sunday morning. We look forward to the help that they can provide for us. For example, that would mean getting the National Guard here to help any way that they can. Anything they can do, we greatly appreciate it.”

Scott noted that many local groups and individuals are collecting money and items to help with the flood recovery.

“There are multiple donations set up throughout the county,” he said. “Those who wish to help Harman recover from the flooding, be sure to call the (Randolph County) Office of Emergency Management so that they can coordinate delivery.

“All we ask is that people who are doing these fundraisers and gathering materials, that they let the Office of Emergency Management know because it helps them to coordinate the efforts. They have a lot of supplies over there, some of it they need, and others they don’t. We just want to make sure that people are getting the right supplies and sending the supplies to the right place,” said Scott.

An update on the condition of Harman School, which was flooded Sunday morning, was provided Monday afternoon by Randolph County Superintendent of Schools Debra Schmidlen.

“As of today, all of the water is out and the classrooms have been cleaned and sanitized. They are in much better shape and are good to go,” she said. “The electric and water is on in Harman School and sewage is working at the school.

“Today there were also people working outside on the property. The school grounds received a lot of damage from the flood waters going right through the front of the building and around the side and back. So, they are working on clean-up outside right now,” Schmidlen said.

“At this point, inside the building is good and we are not at all concerned about damage to the inside of the school. It has all been assessed. We are still assessing the possible damage of the furnace room, but we are not sure about that yet. Tomorrow, we are having a maintenance crew look at it.

“I noticed that the town of Harman was going to enlist the help of the National Guard to work on the clean up process of our playground,” she said. “The playground equipment has received damage. We are are currently looking at how to replace or repair the playground equipment.”