SCOTT DEPOT, W. Va. – Floods covered southwest West Virginia on May 9, interrupting water service across Mingo and McDowell counties. The town of Northfork lost service when the floods submerged the pumps at their water plant.
                 Even when the water receded, the plant couldn’t supply drinking water to its customers. A damaged power transformer burned out one of the pumps. Without pumps and facing the prospect of long-term water outage, the utility called the West Virginia Rural Water Association.                 “They asked for assistance in finding dollars that might be available to purchase a new pump,” explained Debbie Britt, executive director of the WVRWA.
                 Britt called the McDowell County Office of Emergency Services and the McDowell County Commission searching for funds. McDowell County agreed to provide money to replace the pump, with the intent of being reimbursed by FEMA after the floods.
                 “I am proud to say that the West Virginia Emergency Response Team was very effective in working with the towns affected by this flooding and that we were able to send resources to the areas that were effective,” Britt said. “We are continuing to grow our Emergency Response Team and are confident that we can help systems out in the case of whatever disaster occurs next.”

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