 This is an EKB-TV Evening News Special Report, Flood Crisis 2015. While many people of the Big Sandy and Tug Valley region are putting the flood behind them, others are still waiting for recovery to begin. Good evening and welcome to this EKB-TV Special Report. I'm Gary Sla. And I'm Cindy Mae Johnson. We begin tonight in Johnson County, where floodwaters only reached their peak today. EKB-TV's Ralph Davis brings us this report. I'm standing in Painesville, where local officials cannot yet begin to recover from the storm because they're still dealing with it. Our main objective right now is continuing to provide any type of emergency services to the east end of town, you know, across the river. And, you know, the mayor and far chief, we've all made arrangements for that. We have a EMS unit placed on that end. The river had been expected to crest in Painesville at midnight last night. However, that did not happen until later on this afternoon. The good news is the river stopped rising a couple of inches shy of flood stage. However, at that level, there is still flooding in low-lying areas. And that is taking its toll on the county's road system. And, of course, from the infrastructure standpoint, you know, city streets, county roads, you know, we're all seeing the potholes, you know, everywhere now. And when all this melts off and all the salt goes away, you know, I know the county road department and the city street department, they'll be out looking and no doubt, you know, they've got a considerable amount of damage, you know, to the roads of the streets. Despite the delay in getting to recovery, county officials say that Johnson County is still fortunate. We've been fortunate in a way not to have had some extremely serious events associated with the bandwidth. We've had wrecks just like everybody else and impaired traveling and things of that nature, but we've been lucky in the long run, I think. City and county officials tell us that they still haven't been able to do the damage assessments just yet because they can't get everywhere they need to go. They plan to do that over the next few days. For EKB TV News, I'm Ralph Davis. In Williamson, West Virginia, 30 families remain trapped behind a wall of mud as a landslide has blocked their only route to the outside world. So far, three homes have been destroyed and we say so far because the earth is still not stabilized. EKB TV reporter Shelby Steele went to Mingo County today to find out more. A large mudslide trapped residents in a Mingo County community Thursday night. The slide took place on Big Splint Hollow Road near Nolan at 10.30 p.m. Mingo County Emergency Management Interim Director Doug Gulsby says everyone affected was extremely lucky. No injuries so far. The gentleman at his trailer was completely destroyed last night. He just left 40 minutes before the slide. Gulsby adds that the slide will get worse before it gets better. We come out here this morning, more of a slid, so it's continually sliding. If we have more warm weather or a rainstorm, you're going to have a worse slide and we're trying to, at this time, do a voluntary evacuation of the residents. Even though there have been no injuries so far, it has still been a hassle for everyone in the community. It's trapped 45 residents up in there. The landslide itself comes out on three trailers. It's still sliding, causing an emergency situation. Gulsby says this has taken efforts from everyone. Mingo County Commission in conjunction, working with West Virginia State Homeland Security, Logan County Emergency Rescue, Chattanooga Fire Department, and being in a Department of Transportation and Department of Highway has been working on this all night to try to fix the problem. For EKB-TV News, I'm Shelby Steele. Thank you, Shelby. In other areas of the region, the good news is recovery efforts are well underway. In Pikeville, flood gates have been opened this morning, a signal that the worst has passed. In Floyd County, officials had to wait a little bit longer for flooding to diminish. Floyd County Emergency Management Director Bobby Johnson says the damage has begun, but several areas of the county have seen residential flooding. Even as officials begin to switch gears from rescue to recovery, Johnson says mudslides remain a real threat. Right now, everybody should be concerned about mudslides, because you just have no idea where they're going to come from. So what we're telling folks are to be aware of the area that you live in. If it's prone to sliding, be looking for it. If you see trees leaning near your home that's out of the ordinary, start watching for mudslides. We're telling folks just don't stick around. If you see a slide starting to form, get on out of there, contact the authorities. In dealing with the threat of mudslides, Johnson says the first steps you can take are to be familiar with your surroundings and to develop an emergency plan. You should also take note of drainage patterns around your home and be alert for any sign of movement, even less obvious ones like tilting trees. You should also listen for unusual sounds like cracking trees or colliding boulders. Another sign of danger is a sudden change in the amount or color of storm drainage. If a slide is happening or you believe one might be imminent, stay away from power lines and contact emergency officials immediately. Like the rest of the region today, Williamson, West Virginia dealing with the aftermath of the 2015 flood crisis. Most of the problems in Williamson include debris on roads, as well as standing water continuing to block roadways. Williamson City Fire Chief Joey Carey says they are doing everything they can in order to clean up the city. Today we've got a lot of mud and debris that was left where the river was in the road in some places and then backed up. We have a small amount in the east end of town at the mouth of Peter Street and at Doobah's department highways are helping us out there because it's Route 52 and they maintain 52. So they're helping us with that end. And we have a lot of mud and debris in Fairview Audition on road. We're at Route 52 that Vila Water is down there taking care of. And we're just doing patrols through town to see if everybody's okay. Stay with us. When we come back, we will talk to two Pike County officials on their cleanup efforts. And Leith and Hopkins will be in to explain how all of this began. Well, the last couple of days have been so stressful for everybody in our region, but especially for the two men who head up the Pikeville and Pike County emergency response teams. Gary had a chance earlier today to sit down with Paul Maynard, Pikeville's Public Safety Director, and Doug Tackett, Emergency Management Director for Pike County. Doug, let's talk a little bit about... Now, first of all, there has been a disaster declaration issued in both Pike County and the city of Pikeville, right, Paul? Yes. Okay. Now, with that said, Doug, I know you had some shelters available last night, emergency centers. Were they used? We had one at center that was used last night, a family from I think Upper Pompey utilized the Pikeville Senior Citizen Center. Okay. Will those centers be available tonight? Should the need arise? Should the need arise? Yes, they will. Okay. Paul, city of Pikeville, the training center, was that the warming center there? Yeah, that's kind of our go-to spot. Obviously, yesterday the decision was made pretty quick with the rising waters and obviously the forecast. We went ahead and stocked that and we had it available and we still have it available and we will do that as long as the weather dictates or the need dictates. Okay. The city actually put up one of the floodgates yesterday, very early yesterday morning as the waters were rising. That was the first time that I can recall that ever being put up outside of practice. Yeah, absolutely. I've been here for 19 years and we've had a couple of close calls. Going to put it up, that's the first time I've seen it up. Our protocol says standard once it gets to 38 feet, it's got to go up and at the time they were predicting crest at 38, but the decision was made early no matter if the crest was predicted at 38 or if it was going to be on, the gate was going to go up at 38. Okay. That gate has since been taken down, right? Yeah. Thank God yesterday the water did crest. It started going down. You know as a precaution we leave that in there and sometimes for several hours, you know I talked with fire chief Ronald Cohen and he said you don't want to take a chance. He said if something happened and it started coming back up, it's a task. So we gave it through the night and we do have it down now. Okay. Doug, any type of rescues that had to be done yesterday during the height of the high waters? Yes, there were about seven or eight that had to be done. Pike County technical rescue team assisted with the Floyd County Rescue Squad did some evacuations around Winward Lane and down through Mossy Bottom in that area. Okay. And again, of course, those shelters will be available tonight for those who may need them. That's right. Let's give out some telephone numbers right now. Doug, with the county, what's some numbers if somebody needs assistance? If they need assistance and it's not an emergency, it would be 432-021-0 or 437-4126. And as always, if it is an emergency, please call 911. Okay. Paul, the city of Pikeville, again, the shelter will be available if needed. What's the number that they can call for a year? If they just need to come to the shelter, call the 911 Center. We ask them to call in at 437-5111. And again, like Doug said, if it is a true emergency, do not hesitate to dial 911 for either of us, because that's what we're here for. Looking ahead to the weather of the next few days, it looks like we're out of the woods. Well, I'm hoping that all this will soon just be a bad memory. EKB Chief Meteorologist Lathan Hopkins takes us for one last look back on what's been an incredible few weeks of weather. The recent flooding was not just a result of the heavy rainfall this week. We actually have to look back more than two weeks to see where our problems began. February 2nd, Groundhog Day. Punxsutawney Field sees his shadow, meaning six more weeks of winter. After a relatively calm season so far, we had no idea what the next few weeks would hold. February 16th, our first significant winter storm of the season blankets our area with more than a foot of snow. The highest amounts were found in the Coleman community of Pike County, where they picked up 18 inches of snow. February 19th and 20th, we woke up with the coldest temperatures we have felt in more than 20 years. On the morning of the 20th, the temperature dropped to near 30 degrees below zero in parts of eastern Kentucky, making it the coldest temperature recorded in February since 1899. February 21st and 22nd, while parts of the tri-state picked up more snow, most of our region recorded one to two inches of rain. This led to flooding and ice jams in several creeks, streams and rivers, helping cut off water to thousands of people in eastern Kentucky. While minor storm systems moved through in late February and early March, cold air helped keep plenty of snow on the ground. That melting snow in more than two inches of rain Wednesday was more than enough to cause severe flooding of creeks and streams before all that water moved to our rivers on Wednesday night and Thursday. When you break it down in those 18 days between February the 16th and March the 5th, we have recorded more than six and a half inches of precipitation, including more than two feet of snow. Again, we're dealing with some incredible things that we just don't see every single year in this region. Especially within 18 days, we have dealt with a couple of feet of snow in a matter of 18 days, several inches of rain. The good news is things much calmer today and the calm weather is going to stick around for a couple of days as a matter of fact. The Doppler radar, this is what we want to see, dry conditions all across eastern Kentucky, western West Virginia, southwest Virginia. No snow, no rain, no sleet, no freezing rain looking much better today compared to this time yesterday. Now the waters are dropping all across the region, but we still have a flood warning in effect until early Saturday morning, Johnson, Martin and northern parts of Floyd County where the waters are still running a little bit high in those three counties, but I do expect late tonight that that flood warning will be dropped in for the first time in about 72 hours. We will be without a watch, an advisory, a warning looking much better. Those river levels continue to drop. That's the top of the weather headlines for today. All the rivers below flood stage this evening, partly to mostly sunny skies expected throughout the weekend. Warming trend this weekend into next week to make the next chance of rain. That will hold off until the early part of next week. Satellite and radar composite. Look at this. I mean, we're talking across the Ohio Valley. We are talking across the central part of the U.S., Minneapolis, Chicago, Detroit, Atlanta. Oh, looking fine. The only thing we have to watch is this little batch of clouds here across the upper Midwest. Not a lot of moisture associated with it, but it could bring a few more clouds to the region late tomorrow night and to the day on Sunday. We're not expecting any rain, though, so that's good news. Tonight, 12 degrees, mostly clear. Another cold night, but tomorrow 45, mostly sunny. We say goodbye to the snow and the ice. We will see plenty of melting, I do believe. Now, look at this five-day forecast. We go 52 on Sunday, 52 on Monday. Chance of rain moving in late Monday into Tuesday. Not a big deal. What is a big deal? The temperatures. By Wednesday, 58 degrees and early next week, overnight lows instead of daytime highs will be in the 30s. Big, big change. That sounds reasonable. Back where we should be this time of the year. I'm looking forward to that. Who would think we would be looking forward to overnight lows in the 30s? When we're talking about daytime highs in the teens and 20s, we'll take 50s. We certainly will. We're going to take a quick break. We'll be right back. And welcome back into this special report. And Cindy, this has been definitely a very interesting 48 hours. Very unusual as well. As we told you in our report last night, we actually are going to be bringing you local news at 6 p.m. This was a little earlier than we had planned, but Mother Nature kind of called that shot. Absolutely. So we definitely look forward to having you join us with the news. And that will just... Well, the last couple of days have been so stressful for everybody in our region, but especially for the two men who head up the Pikeville and Pike County emergency response teams. Gary had a chance earlier today to sit down with Paul Maynard, Pikeville's public safety director, and Doug Tackett, emergency management director for Pike County. Doug, let's talk a little bit about... Now, first of all, there has been a disaster declaration issued in both Pike County and the city of Pikeville. Right, Paul? Yes. Okay. Now, with that said, Doug, I know you had some shelters available last night, emergency centers. Were they used? We had one at center that was used last night, a family from I think Upper Pompey that utilized the Pikeville Senior Citizen Center. Okay. Will those centers be available tonight? Should the need arise? Should the need arise? Yes, they will. Okay. Paul, city of Pikeville, the training center. Was that the warming center there? Yeah, that's kind of our go-to spot. Obviously, yesterday's decision was made pretty quick with the rising waters and obviously the forecast. We went ahead and stocked that and we had it available and we still have it available. And we will do that as long as the weather dictates or the need dictates. Okay. The city actually put up one of the floodgates yesterday, very early yesterday morning as the waters were rising. That was the first time that I can recall that ever being put up outside of practice. Yeah, absolutely. I've been here for 19 years and we've had a couple of close calls. We're going to put it up. That's the first time I've seen it up. Our protocol says standard once it gets to 38 feet, it's got to go up. And at the time they were predicting crest at 38, but the decision was made early no matter if the crest was predicted at 38 or if it was going to be on, the gate was going to go up at 38. Okay. That gate has since been taken down, right? Yeah. Thank God yesterday the water did crest. It started going down. As a precaution, we leave that in there and sometimes for several hours, I talked with fire chief Ronald Cohn and he said you don't want to take a chance. He said if something happened and it started coming back up, it's a task. So we gave it through the night and we do have it down now. Okay. Doug, any type of rescues that had to be done yesterday during the height of the high waters? Yes, there were about seven or eight that had to be done. Pike County technical rescue team assisted with the Floyd County Rescue Squad did some evacuations around Wynward Lane and down through Mossy Bottom in that area. Okay. And again, of course, those shelters will be available tonight for those who may need them. That's right. Let's give out some telephone numbers right now. Doug, with the county, what's some numbers if somebody needs assistance? If they need assistance and it's not an emergency, it would be 432-021-0 or 437-4126. And as always, if it is an emergency, please call 911. Okay. Paul, the city of Pikeville, again, the shelter will be available if needed. What's the number that they can call for a year? If they just need to come to the shelter, call the 911 center. We ask them to call in at 437-5111. And again, like Doug said, if it is a true emergency, do not hesitate to dial 911 for either of us, because that's what we're here for. Looking ahead to the weather of the next few days, it looks like we're out of the woods. Well, I'm hoping that all this will soon just be a bad memory. EKB chief meteorologist Lathen Hopkins takes us for one last look back on what's been an incredible few weeks of weather. The recent flooding was not just the result of the heavy rainfall this week. We actually have to look back more than two weeks to see where our problems began. February 2, Groundhog Day. Punxsutawneyville sees his shadow, meaning six more weeks of winter. After a relatively calm season so far, we had no idea what the next few weeks would hold. February 16, our first significant winter storm of the season blankets our area with more than a foot of snow. The highest amounts were found in the Coleman community of Pike County, where they picked up 18 inches of snow. February 19th and 20th, we woke up with the coldest temperatures we have felt in more than 20 years. On the morning of the 20th, the temperature dropped to near 30 degrees below zero in parts of eastern Kentucky, making it the coldest temperature recorded in February since 1899. February 21st and 22nd, while parts of the Tri-State picked up more snow, most of our region recorded one to two inches of rain. This led to flooding and ice jams in several creeks, streams and rivers, helping cut off water to thousands of people in eastern Kentucky. While minor storm systems moved through in late February and early March, cold air helped keep plenty of snow on the ground. That melting snow in more than two inches of rain Wednesday was more than enough to cause severe flooding of creeks and streams before all that water moved to our rivers on Wednesday night and Thursday. When you break it down in those 18 days between February the 16th and March the 5th, we have recorded more than six and a half inches of precipitation, including more than two feet of snow. Again, we're dealing with some incredible things that we just don't see every single year in this region. Especially within 18 days, we have dealt with a couple of feet of snow in a matter of 18 days. Several inches of rain. The good news is things much calmer today and the calm weather is going to stick around for a couple of days. As a matter of fact, the Doppler radar this is what we want to see. Dry conditions all across eastern Kentucky, western West Virginia, southwest Virginia. No snow, no rain, no sleet, no freezing rain looking much better today compared to this time yesterday. The waters are dropping all across the region but we still have a flood warning in effect until early Saturday morning, Johnson, Martin and northern parts of Floyd County where the waters are still running a little bit high in those three counties but I do expect late tonight that that flood warning will be dropped in for the first time in about 72 hours. We will be without a watch, an advisory, a warning looking much better. Those river levels continue to drop. That's the top of the weather today. All the rivers below flood stage this evening partly to mostly sunny skies expected throughout the weekend. Warming trend this weekend into next week and it looks like the next chance of rain. That will hold off until the early part of next week. Satellite and radar composite. Look at this. I mean we're talking across the Ohio Valley. We are talking across the central part of the U.S. Minneapolis, Chicago, Detroit, Atlanta. All looking fine. The only thing we have to do is this little batch of clouds here across the upper Midwest. Not a lot of moisture associated with it but it could bring a few more clouds to the region late tomorrow night and to the day on Sunday. Not expecting any rain though so that's good news. Tonight, 12 degrees. Mostly clear another cold night but tomorrow 45. Mostly sunny. We say goodbye to the snow and the ice. We will see plenty of melting I do believe. Now look at this five day forecast. We go on Sunday 52 on Monday. Chance of rain moving in late Monday into Tuesday. Not a big deal. What is a big deal? The temperatures by Wednesday 58 degrees in early next week. Overnight lows instead of daytime highs will be in the 30s. Big, big change. That sounds reasonable back where we should be this time of the year. I'm looking forward to that. Who would think we would be looking forward to overnight lows in the 30s? We're talking about daytime highs in the teens and 20s. We'll take 50s. We certainly will. We're going to take a quick break. We'll be right back.