The Inter-Mountain photo by Destiny Judy Overnight floodwaters washed away a section of this road between Job and Whitmer.

HARMAN — Overnight storms ravaged the town of Harman, closing roads, washing out bridges and flooding the local school.

At 11 a.m. Sunday, Cindy Hart, executive director of the Randolph County Office of Emergency Management, reported, “Route 33 East of Elkins is closed due to recent flooding. Only local traffic will be permitted access.”

At 10 a.m., Mark Scott, president of the Randolph County Commission, signed a proclamation declaring a local state of emergency for the next 72 hours in response to the flooding in Harman.

“There was a mass flooding event that occurred in the Harman, Job, Whitmer area last night,” the commission released in a statement. “Homes have been washed from their foundations and people are displaced. All volunteer fire departments and swift boat rescue apparatus has been dispatched. Please keep the people of this area in your thoughts and prayers.”

Scott, speaking after 6 p.m. Sunday, told The Inter-Mountain, “Route 33 into Harman is still closed down. They’ll have flaggers there tonight… One lane outside Harman will be closed for probably two weeks.”

The commission president said the damages to the area were extreme, estimating that more than a million dollars in property damages had been suffered, with 130,000 tons of stone displaced.

“The main access road from Job to Whitmer is washed out,” Scott said. “The road just before the community center in Dry Fork is washed out. The bridge in front of Cooper’s Store in Harman is completely gone.”

Scott spent seven hours in the area Sunday assessing the damages, accompanied by Commissioner David Kesling. They also provided information to Delegates Bill Hartman and Cody Thompson, both D-Randolph, 43rd District, who also surveyed the damages Sunday.

“I have to praise the work of the Division of Highways, they’ll be working all night tonight,” Scott said.

“Hopefully, we’ll get a declaration of a state of emergency from the governor and that will open up state funding for the situation, and maybe some federal funding,” he said. “We just need to make sure the people here are taken care of.”

Late Sunday afternoon, Gov. Jim Justice declared a State of Emergency for Randolph, Grant, Pendleton and Tucker counties due to the flooding.

“After being briefed on the extent of the flooding, the governor verbally stated his intent to declare a state of emergency. The official declaration will be filed tomorrow,” a Sunday evening press release from the Governor’s Office stated.

Amanda Smith, president of the Randolph County Board of Education, said school system staff were inside the Harman School Sunday afternoon assessing flooding damages.

“Our superintendent, assistant superintendent, maintenance supervisor and crew, as well as the principal have assessed the damage. We are putting together a plan of action,” she reported. “We will work together to clean up the destruction. All areas affected by the flooding will need your support, either with time, energy or donations.”

Areas in and around Seneca Rocks were also flooded, including the U.S. Forest Service Seneca Rocks Discovery Center and nearby cabins.

Eddie Lipscomb, of Kerens, shared his story of a nearly fatal camping disaster on social media: “My family and I nearly died this morning camping at Dry Fork and just now got home,” he posted to Facebook Sunday. “Woke up to my dad pulling everyone out of their tents into very cold rain. He told us to get in the cars and get out of there. I was walking half asleep to the car shivering the whole way, I looked to my left and see my brother’s truck getting swept away by flood waters that weren’t there just 2 hours ago when we went to sleep.

“We drove down the road only to reach what looked like another river going across the road, and as my dad helped everyone back up so we could turn around and go the other way a land slide covers the part of the road we were on 30 seconds earlier. We took every coat we had in the car and start walking back. Trees popping and crackling around us as we made our way to a light we could see through the forest, which turned out to be a camper with a family asleep inside. When we woke them up they drove down the other side of the road (the only other way out) only to find multiple land slides and more water crossing the road.

“So we were all stuck watching the water rise around us, and desperately searching for a way up to higher ground,” he wrote. “The water reached the edge of the road, we prayed and hugged everyone. There was no phone signal, no one to help us. We thought we were going to die in the raging flood waters next to us. Just as we lost all hope the water stopped rising, and slowly started to recede.”