Hatfield-McCoy Trail still making flood repairs
welch — While the Feb. 15 flood didn't force any trail closures, the deluge of water did cause damage to drainage systems along the Hatfield-McCoy system in Southern West Virginia.
In fact, officials with the Hatfield-McCoy Trails Authority are still working to make drainage repairs along several of the trails, according to Jeff Lusk, executive director of the Hatfield-McCoy Trail Authority.
Lusk said the winter flood caused damage to parts of the multi-county trail system, while snow and ice from a colder than normal winter caused problems on other trails.
'We had over $160,000 in damage on the trails primarily with the drainage system we put in,' Lusk said. 'The culverts we put in couldn't handle the volume of the rains.'
The Feb. 15 flood was caused by a combination factors, including a torrential rainfall on that day, melting snow and grounds that were already saturated from previous storms.
Lusk said all of the trails remain open, but crews are still working on 'long-term repairs' to the drainage system.
The Feb. 15 flood was declared a federal disaster by President Donald Trump. The last day for residents impacted by that flood to apply for federal disaster assistance with FEMA is April 28.
McDowell County, in particular, was hit very hard by the flood.
As a result, the trail system in McDowell County was among those where the drainage system was overwhelmed by the volume of water.
Lusk said the ongoing repairs will likely continue into the summer months.
Snow and ice was more of a problem along the Pocahontas trail system in Mercer County, according to Lusk.
'Our whole system got hit, but it got hit by different kinds of weather,' Lusk said. 'Most of the ice damage was Mercer. Flooding was McDowell, Logan and Mingo.'
Just five months earlier, the trail system was impacted by the remnants of Hurricane Helene, which also adversely impacted ridership from North Carolina — a state that sustained far greater hurricane damage than West Virginia.
Although ridership levels from North Carolina dropped for a brief period of time, the trail system still finished the 2024 ridership season with an increase in permit sales.
Lusk said he is hoping for good weather from this point forward.
'We feel like we kind of turned the curve after this last flood,' he said. 'All of our lodges are open, and they seem to be doing really good. The past two weeks have been really excellent. And we are hoping it will continue.'
Contact Charles Owens at
cowens@bdtonline.com
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