County sees fire, then rain
CRAIG COUNTY – First it was fire. Then it was flood. It was a short-lived scare, but rising waters from weekend rains created concerns for a number of Craig County residents when Upper Craigs Creek swelled over the road that shares the name.
On March 6, Chief Terry Brookman and other volunteers from the Upper Craigs Creek Volunteer Fire Department alerted nearby residents, including Bobby and Barbara Robertson, who live about a mile off the road on Hall Road in the Jefferson National Forest, and their son, Craig Robertson.
Bobby Robertson uses a John Deere tractor to move hay equipment on son Craig Robertson's property to drier ground. Photo by Barbara Robertson
Barbara took pictures of the water over the state road to a depth of about 2 feet about 4 p.m., after Brookman called them to say water was ponding Upper Craigs Creek Road where Craig has a barn, a shop and some equipment.
“Terry called and said there was water getting around the hay rake,” she said Monday. The Robertsons went through the water on their tallest John Deere tractor and their son’s four-wheel-drive vehicle to move equipment to drier ground.
“We wouldn’t have been able to get through with a regular car,” Barbara said. “The water came up kind of fast.”
She added that most of the stream out of its banks had receded by about 8 p.m. Sunday night.
Usually residents of Hall Road can go out the other end, but the end toward Rt. 42 is closed as it frequently is during extremely wet weather, local residents said.
