Crews are busy cleaning out debris that washed into lakes, rivers and creeks during Hurricane Helene and according to the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality, they’ll likely be at it at least for the next several months.
Workers are busy running excavators and barges, pulling debris from Claytor Lake. Most of what they’re finding is logs, but there are also tires, paddleboats, jet skis, boat docks, and fences.
“Got parts of old campers, refrigerators, propane tanks,” described David Dobyns, a board member with the Friends of Claytor Lake, a nonprofit organization that’s hired local contractors to clear debris.
He said he believes Helene was the largest flood to hit Claytor since 1940. Helene destroyed or severely damaged 77 homes along the lake.
“The water level was so high that it just washed a lot of properties right down the lake,” Dobyns said.
Some of the debris in Claytor Lake probably washed into the New River upstream during flooding in North Carolina. In Southwest Virginia, South Holston Lake, along the Tennessee line, is also clogged with flood debris.
State hazmat workers are helping dispose of hazardous materials at both lakes, burning off propane before sending the tanks to be recycled.
Dobyns said any intact boats or RVs they recover are being catalogued and stored, and owners wanting to claim them should contact the Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources.
Debris also washed into the New River further downstream, backing up behind the Bluestone Dam in Mercer County, West Virginia. There, an Army Corps of Engineers spokesperson says debris covers about twenty-five acres. They’re working to keep materials from floating farther downstream into the Gauley River, which could obstruct whitewater boaters this fall.
