Most rivers and streams in Southwest Virginia have dropped below flood stage, according to National Weather Service gauges.
But the remnants of Hurricane Helene are still spinning over Virgnia, generating showers and some thunderstorms. That's why the National Weather Service issued a flood watch for Monday afternoon and evening for the Roanoke and southern Shenandoah valleys as well as Central and Southside Virginia.
In Montgomery County, the health department and New River Valley Regional Water Authority have issued a boil notice for all customers, including Virginia Tech, Blacksburg and Christiansburg. All tap water should be boiled before being used for drinking or cooking. The authority says the boil notice could be in effect for 48 hours or until water samples meet federal and state standards. A statement from Montgomery County says flooding on the New River has created challenging water quality conditions.
Appalachian Power says it has 4,000 employees and contractors working to restore power. More than 80,000 customers in Virginia were still offline as of 10:30 Monday morning. The utility says it expects to have most outages restored by late Tuesday night. An Appalachian Power spokesperson said Hurricane Helene and the 282,000 outages it caused was the second most impactful weather event in the company's history. Only the 2012 derecho caused more outages and damage to the grid.
The Virginia Department of Emergency Management is coordinating storm response in Southwest Virginia. More information about storm cleanup resources is available here.
During a briefing at VDEM's Richmond headquarters, Governor Glenn Youngkin said Southwest Virginia saw "an unprecedented amount of damage." The state expects 13 more counties and 5 more cities to be added to a federal emergency declaration approved by President Biden on Sunday. A major disaster declaration request is being expedited and is expected to be filed by state officials Monday.
Youngkin thanked staff at VDEM and the many first responders from around the state who responded starting Friday. Youngkin noted that they believe all immediate life-threatening situations have been resolved but there is still a large amount of immediate recovery that needs to be completed. Crews are focused on restoring power and communications and getting people to safe, dry locations. Youngkin said the major dams on the New River are secure, though hazmat crews need to clear a large amount of debris, including propane tanks and cars, that has collected behind them.
The town of Damascus is one of the hardest hit locations in Southwest Virginia. It’s also attracted the attention of many people willing to volunteer to help cleanup and rebuild.
The Virginia Department of Emergency Management and United Way of Southwest Virginia have set up a volunteer, donation and resource needs center. It’s located near the Food City store on Beaver Dam Avenue in Damascus. It will be open weekdays from 10 to 5.
Monetary donations can also be directed to United Way of Southwest Virginia’s 2024 Southwest Virginia Disaster Relief Fund.
The Associated Press reports at least 107 people were killed in incidents related to the hurricane. That number is expected to rise.
