The Inter-Mountain photos by Joe Blankenship State workers, bottom photo, set up a 'High Water' sign near the FLY Market, top photo, in Montrose Wednesday, as flood waters forced the closure of several local roads. Schools in Randolph and Barbour counties dismissed two hours early Wednesday due to potential flooding.

ELKINS – Falling rain and thunderstorms caused flooding in Elkins and surrounding counties on Wednesday morning.

As a result of the driving rain, two county school systems were forced to dismiss schools early, and the main road from Randolph County to Tucker County was closed to traffic.

Randolph County and Barbour County Schools both sent students home early Wednesday afternoon due to potential flooding. To ensure students could make it home safely, both schools were dismissed two hours early.

The Randolph County Office of Emergency Management announced at 11 a.m. that Old Route 219 (Parsons Road) in the Montrose area was closing due to high water.

The Inter-Mountain photos by Joe Blankenship
State workers, bottom photo, set up a ‘High Water’ sign near the FLY Market, top photo, in Montrose Wednesday, as flood waters forced the closure of several local roads. Schools in Randolph and Barbour counties dismissed two hours early Wednesday due to potential flooding.

“Route 219 was shut down around lunch, but it should be back open later in the afternoon (Wednesday),” Randolph County Office of Emergency Management Director Mike Miller told The Inter-Mountain. “I went through the entire county today and the worst spot flooding-wise was in the Montrose area. So there really wasn’t much else going on other than that area. There was some high water, but nothing like in Montrose.”

The Inter-Mountain photo by Joe Blankenship
Driving rain Wednesday morning resulted in surprise flooding in the Montrose area in Randolph County.

Miller said the main reason Route 219 closed on Wednesday was because of flooding across the county line in Tucker County. “Road closed” signs were placed just off of the Corridor H exit before the Elkins Speedway.

“The reason they shut 219 down was because of some of the flooding going on next to Parsons,” Miller said. “Overall, we were in pretty good shape here in Randolph County, other than the little bit of high water in Montrose. They had a little more rain out that way.”

Rain is expected to leave the area today and make way for gradual clearing, with a high temperature around 75 degrees, according to the National Weather Service in Charleston. The forecast for tonight is mostly clear with a low around 47. Sunny skies with a high near 77 are projected for Friday.

“I don’t look for the water to come up much more throughout the night,” Miller said. “I think we are going to be halfway decent on Thursday as long as we don’t get a bunch of rain like we did on Wednesday.”

Miller said any alerts for potential flooding will be posted on the Randolph County Office Emergency Management Facebook page.

The Inter-Mountain photo by Joe Blankenship
Residents in the Montrose area had to deal with flooding Wednesday morning.