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Disaster on the Tug
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 30 พ.ย. 2013
- In April of 1977, the largest flood on record for the Tug Fork Valley struck the southern portion of West Virginia. The disaster's impact on Mingo County, in particular, revealed astronomical damages. Mr. and Mrs. Byron Thornton, owners of Thornton's Department Store in Kermit, West Virginia, compared the incident to the biblical great flood found in Genesis. Although the Thornton's were able to recover their store, many businesses in the area were completely destroyed or never fully restored. Amazingly only one life was taken in the Mingo area of the flood, but the effects of the disaster left the Tug Valley region in an economic slump for thirty-five years. To be sure, the people suffered a long reconstruction period that left many communities unrecoverable. Not only that, but the delay in government protection for flood control projects caused local uproars to emerge as Mingo citizens feared another disaster. Disaster on the Tug will reveal the damages caused by the flood, show its impact on the hard-hit cities of Kermit, Matewan, and Williamson, and demonstrate how the community banded together in order to receive sufficient flood control measures.
Filmed By: Katherine Endicott
JMC 575
Completed On: November 30, 2013
Director/Videographer: Katherine Endicott
Starring: Samuel Kapourales, Edward Nenni, and Johnny Linville
Editors: Crystal Hall, Todd Hall, and Katherine Endicott
Editing Software: iMovie Maker
Special thanks to: Samuel Kapourales, Edward Nenni, and Johnny Linville for allowing me to film them and share their photos and documents; J.W. and Elaine Endicott for their support; Todd Hall and Crystal Hall for their editing help; and Garage Band and WMUL for their music.
Interview with Samuel Kapourales filmed in his office at Hurley's Drug Store in Williamson, WV.
Interview with Edward Nenni filmed in his store at Nenni's Department Store and Shoe Repair in Matewan, WV.
Interview with Johnny Linville filmed at City Hall in Kermit, WV.
All scenes recorded were filmed on location in Williamson, Matewan, and Kermit, WV.
Music: '3-4 Prog 01' courtesy of WMUL (Marshall University). 'Timeless', 'Dewdrops', and 'Comin' Home' all courtesy of Garage Band.
Sources:
Department for Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Commonwealth of Kentucky and Department of Natural Resources State of West Virginia. Special Flood Hazard Information Report: Tug Fork of Big Sandy River Kentucky and West Virginia. Prepared by the Huntington District Corps of Engineers. Huntington, WV: Government Printing Office, 1978.
Fanning, Michael, John Fanning, and Greg Carannante. "The Wake of the Flood." The Mountain Call, July 1977.
Lovern, Kyle. Memories of Tug Valley: A Trip Back in Time. Chapmanville, WV: Woodland Press, LLC, 2012.
Sanders, Charlotte. "The Great Flood of '77." The Williamson Daily News, May 18, 1977.
Smith, Graham. Williamson 1977 Flood Photos. DVD. Williamson, WV: The Williamson Historical Foundation, Inc., 2012.
U.S. Department of the Army. The 1977 Tug Fork Valley Flood. Prepared by the Huntington District Corps of Engineers Huntington, WV: Government Printing Office, 1978.
White, Rodney. "Lafe Ward Leads Pilgrims' 'Charge': Congressional Delegations Addressed." The Herald Dispatch, April 12, 1978.
Finally, someone has taken enough interest in this event 36 years ago to do this!
Well done Katherine! I will be sharing this on my web site with my little story "Every Time It Rains". Thank you for doing this. :)
My hometown, Williamson. Breaks my heart every time I see this.
Thank you for putting this together! Very well done. My grandparents lived in Williamson and I still remember traveling on the train from Roanoke, VA to visit them in Williamson in the pre-flood years. I was 5 in 1977 and remember when my parents and my brother left me with a neighbor to go pick my grandparents up and try to salvage any belongings. When they came back to Roanoke, the few belongings that they did recover, mostly pictures in frames, were covered in thick mud. Everything else was lost and they had to move to Roanoke. At the time, I couldn’t understand how water could build up like that and cause such destruction. Thank you for showing me those pictures.
My sister and I were 1yr old when this flood occurred. My dad had to bring a boat to rescue my grandparents, my 2 aunts, my mom, my older sister, and myself and twin sister. He put us babies in each arm under his coat and carried us down the railroad tracks from Black Gem bottom to Williamson. My grandparents lost thier beautiful remodeled house and the bottom was never the same. They received a HUD trailer and never recovered. There are many stories like mine out there and its nice to see some of them told. Thank You and great job!
Very nice video, Katherine. I can tell you put a lot of hard work into this, and it paid off.
I appreciate this effort as well. I was just 4 months old when the flood hit! Nice job!!
I was 7 years old when this happened. We lived in Leckieville, but one of the few fortunate ones to live on a hill. We had so many people staying with us I can't even begin to remember the exact number. The train was barely hanging to the tracks and had it fallen into the river, even us safe on the hills would have had to flee into the mountains. I remember like it was yesterday, how scared everyone was, but seeing our neighbor's houses floating at the bottom of our hill was so heartbreaking. We moved in 1980 from there to another part of Ky and moved out of state in 1986. I was in first grade at South Williamson but we couldn't finish our school year there and was bused to Turkey Creek. Right before the flooding, my mom was at the ARH getting a cast off her leg and they barely got her to our house before she could have been stranded. Now, in regards to my memory..There are things I can't remember about everything I did just days or weeks before, but I don't think I will ever forget the flood of 77.
Williamson was my home town. I was 10 years old at the time of the flood.It was something truly to see "I will never forget it'
Thank you for capturing this important history.
Just found this Gem . Thank you
I was working for Robert Harvit at WBTH at the time, and was the one on the air when it came over the floodwall shortly after 2AM. Sounded like a freight train rushing down Harvey street toward Third Avenue to fill up the low spot by City Hall.
This is indeed a tragic story of all-to-often repeated flood damages in West Virginia and Kentucky. The Tug Fork has been hit numerous times by damaging floods over the past years as far back as 1952 and the 1977 event was the flood of record. Who caused the flood someone asked? Actually the flood was the result of a large rainfall event falling on water logged soils in the upper valley above Matewan which grew to an approximate 500 year event in the Williamson area. Fortunately there weren't any drowning deaths recorded during the flood, but the losses to the coal industry, the railroad and both commercial and residential properties was devastating. An upstream dam was considered by the Corps of Engineers but the cost of the dam, the likely flooding of hundreds of millions of dollars of yet to be mined coal, the necessity to relocate hundreds of families, and the disruption of the NS mainline through the valley were too much to be overcome. The final plan submitted for implementation included several flood walls in West Williamson, South Williamson, the Williamson CBD, and Matewan plus floodproofing hundreds of homes and businesses and relocation of hundreds of residences to Housing and Community Development Sites (Valley View, Mate Creek and South Williamson). The General Plan for implementation was approved in 1982 and work began in earnest in 1983 at the West Williamson floodwall. The Matewan floodwall graphics were the result of a group effort by the Magnolia High School art department and a great team of designers and engineers. Much credit should be given to the Congressional Delegations from WV and KY, the West Virginia Housing Development Fund and the Kentucky Housing Corporation as well as the local mayors and county commissioners who fought long and hard to gain protection for the valley. It was an honor and a privilege to have worked on that project from 1982 until 1993 and to have met so many wonderful people in the Tug Fork valley. God bless you all.
Great Video
Great job Katherine!! Proud of you!!! :D
I lived there in 1976 for a few months and I lost my cap and gown from school plus other things .my sister was married to Tom Hager then
Katherine I have been looking for the flood book they put out ny ideas how I can get one I lived in Belfry the year it happened can you let me know how to get a book if possible.
Strosniders drugstore still there are you Strosniders drugstore and changed her name I love Strosniders drugstore I used to eat ham sandwiches in there that I love than their hot dogs with chili or the best thing in the world to me I could eat one of those and a coat for 50 Cent back then it was wonderful I wish I still lived in Williamson sometimes I sure miss everything there and my family that's all dead up in Winston Cemetery I grew up behind Slater & Slater Street at backyard back right up to the Winston Cemetery I took many a walk in that Cemetery when I was a child I sure miss those days so very much now I live in Florida it's nothing like home believe me I'm just stuck here
Gerry, my dad worked at Strosniders drugstore. Charlie Turk was the pharmacist. He was my Dads best friend. We lost EVERYTHING the night of that terrible and horrific flood. I was a young boy back then but can remember it like it was yesterday.
Dams breaking all over WV because coal companies build them, makes their billions and then leaves for somewhere else. The dams are not tended to after that, so they weaken and break. They should sue those coal barons because they left those dams without having them continually tended to protect the citizens from these tragedies that just keeps happening all over WV over and over again, because there are still many dams that are not kept up, so they will eventually break also.
You are right. It's a shame what the greedy mine owners have done to WV. Our government should have done better by us .