A two hour delay day for a school system means the teachers report at normal time, but the kids don’t come for two hours beyond their normal schedule. Today it was because of yesterday’s rain and flooding. The backroads are still flooded and receding, making travel dangerous for buses, parents, and walking students. In West Virginia, this is not something to sneeze at.
Standing water still exists on roads and one is foolish to cross it. Although it looks level with the familiar road, anything could have happened underneath the water. The road may be gone. Water is powerful.
I live on a hill, but the flat part of my neighborhood has evidence of serious undermining from the river a mile away. My elevation is 610 feet. The region below the house is a flood plain. There are lots of those in West Virginia, not to mention the abandoned mines that dot the landscape. They fill with water, recede and collapse all too often. Special insurance riders are common on homeowner’s insurance policies for abandoned mines for such occasions.
About fifteen years ago, I taught in a mining community where a major mine disaster happened a year previous to my arrival. Many of my students lost fathers, brothers, uncles, and friends in the Big Branch Mine owned by Bill Blankenship. The community has never recovered.
The community also suffers terribly from flooding each time the rains come hard and heavy. The water hits from above and below. Some don’t leave because they have deep roots and they have nowhere else to go. Poverty is real.
West Virginia is a proud and beautiful state with proud and beautiful people. At least we don’t have hurricanes.
Devonne Brown 
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