Weekly wrap-up: West Virginia 'families have lost everything' due to historic flooding; Lightning kills 3 in US

By Kevin Byrne, AccuWeather.com Staff Writer

July 1,2016; 7:44PM,EDT

 

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Cleanup efforts continued this week across West Virginia after the state was decimated by historic flooding.
President Obama issued a major disaster declaration on June 25, and West Virginia Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin issued a state of emergency for 44 counties. Tomblin visited Greenbrier and Kanawha counties on Monday, two of the hardest-hit areas during the storm.
"As a lifelong resident of southern West Virginia, I am all too familiar with flooding and know how it can devastate a community," Tomblin said. "But of all the floods I have witnessed in my life, and particularly in my time as governor, I have never seen tragedy like we have experienced in several of our communities in the past four days. Families have lost everything - homes and loved ones, even children."
Mark Lester cleans out a box with creek water as he cleans up from severe flooding in White Sulphur Springs, W. Va., Friday, June 24, 2016. (AP Photo/Steve Helber)
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) granted Federal Disaster Declarations for all ten counties that Tomblin had requested.
The amount of rain that fell across parts of West Virginia and southern Virginia was a once-in-a-century event, according to AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Alex Sosnowski.
"Radar estimates indicated 6 to 10 inches of rain fell on some locations in 24 hours," he said.
Roads were washed away and houses were swept off their foundations by the raging floodwaters. At least 23 people were killed and an estimated 1,000 homes were damaged or destroyed. Over 400 members of the National Guard were deployed to assist with recovery and evacuation efforts.
According to CNBC, damage to the state's agribusiness industry was likely to exceed $10 million.
Stormy weather caused several delays at prominent sporting events this week. The final game of the 2016 NCAA College World Series in Omaha, Nebraska, was canceled Wednesday evening and rescheduled for Thursday afternoon. It was a rainy first week at Wimbledon causing numerous matches to be delayed and forcing the The All England Lawn Tennis & Croquet Club to offer ticket refunds.
In Denver, a potent hailstorm nailed the city during Tuesday evening, forcing a several-hour delay in the baseball game between the Colorado Rockies and Toronto Blue Jays at Coors Field.
Hail coated the outfield grass at Coors Field in Denver on Tuesday night.(Twitter photo/@mollydooker)
As the field was inundated with water, which was also spilled down the steps into the Rockies' dugout, members of the grounds crew had to drive an air blower across the field to help it dry faster, the Associated Press reported.
Firefighters in California continued to battle the deadly Erskine Fire, which claimed two lives and burned more than 47,000 acres in Kern County. Governor Jerry Brown issued a state of emergency on Friday, June 24, as the blaze grew out of control.
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Three lightning fatalities occurred over four days, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Organization (NOAA). A 33-year-old woman was struck on June 24, while standing in water in Daytona Beach, Florida. On June 25, a 72-year-old male and his dog were struck standing in the front yard in Festus, Missouri. The third victim was a 24-year-old male in Lumberton, Mississippi, who died on Monday. So far in 2016, there have been nine lightning deaths in the U.S.
Thunderstorms brought torrential downpours to Karachi, Pakistan, from Tuesday into Wednesday, Tuesday's daily rainfall total of 1.71 inches was the highest since September 2011. By Wednesday, the city had received 2.50 inches in a 24-hour period, more than the entire 2015 calendar, year according to AccuWeather Meteorologist Eric Leister.
The storms also caused at least nine deaths in the southern part of the country, according to Geo News Pakistan.
Several AccuWeather meteorologists and staff writers contributed content to this article.