CHARLES TOWN, W.Va. — Some Jefferson County residents spent the night in a shelter after more than 2.25 inches of rain fell in a short window of time in the Eastern Panhandle Wednesday evening.
The National Weather Service issued a severe thunderstorm warning around 6:24 Wednesday evening after identifying a thunderstorm over the Ranson and Charles Town areas. The storm brought straight line winds in addition to the rain.
Part of the roof was hanging over the side of Charles Towers Wednesday night. (Jefferson County Emergency Management)
In Jefferson County, at least three separate reports of roofs off houses came in for the area of Potato Hill and for the Charles Towers Apartments just south of town, which led to the evacuation of all 90 of the residents.
The city of Ranson opened an emergency shelter at the Ranson Civic Center overnight.
The Jefferson County Board of Education used buses to transport residents from the apartment complex, which serves seniors and the disabled to the shelter. A total of 51 of those evacuated spent part of the night at the shelter.
Jefferson County Emergency Services reported the storm’s primary impact areas there were Charles Town and Ranson, although there were power outages, downed trees and ponding in the roads throughout the county and in neighboring Berkeley County.
“The Jefferson County Emergency Communications Center received multiple emergency calls during the storm, including reports of six downed power lines and five downed trees – two of which struck or landed near structures. At the peak there were over 1,500 power outages and as of 10:52 p.m. on July 16th, 481 residents remained without power,” according to JCOHSEM.
The Independent Fire Company in Ranson was dispatched Wednesday evening to 30 calls within two hours.
A post from IFC expressed gratitude to the nearly dozen neighboring departments and community members for assisting during the storms yesterday.
“Our community pulled together and assisted everyone. We had calls that ranged from wires down, trees down, trees into roofs, automatic alarms, to house fires. Citizens Fire Company Friendship Fire Company Middleway Volunteer Fire Company Charles Town Police Department Ranson Police Department Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office – WV, City of Ranson The City of Charles Town Jefferson County, WV Homeland Security and Emergency Management American Red Cross Jefferson County Schools, WV
Jefferson County Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Management Deputy Director Dick Myers talked about what first responders, many of whom were out most of the night, found in the area:
As for the damage at Charles Towers, Myers said the roof would be evaluated to determine if and when residents could return to the building:
Myers said there was a lot that went right with the response, thanks to community partners, and training:
Independent Fire Company in Ranson thanked the nearly dozen other rescue crews and community partners who were part of the response. Independent alone handled 30 calls in a two hour span.
WV Eastern Panhandle Weather’s Will Astle says the region could see similar weather Thursday. He encouraged residents to stay weather aware.
You can hear their complete interviews from Thursday’s edition of Panhandle Live.
