Tragedy brings a community together

Tragedy brings a community together Not too long ago in Clendenin, West Virginia tragedy stuck a young family when their house burned to the ground, leaving Carolyn Thursten who is bound to a wheel chair and her teenage daughter homeless. This courageous young lady and daughter made it out their burning home without any harm but with only the clothes they had on. The home was a total loss and they unfortunately had no insurance to help them recover their losses. However, Dennis Rhodes the owner of “The Outer Limits Bar & Grill in Clendenin has thoughtfully organized a fundraiser to help them get back on their feet. On January 29th at 8 pm there will be a concert held at the bar where the acoustic rock band “Eclectric” will be playing and all the proceeds from the door charges and 10 % of the overall sales for the night will go to help Thursten and her family. The Outer Limits Bar & Grill is located at 12 Maywood Avenue in Clendenin, West Virginia. If you would like more information on this event, you can call Dennis Rhodes at 304-548-4558. And if you would like to make a donation of clothing, household items, money or any other thing you might want to donate to help them out u can call 681-945-1879. So come on people lets help Dennis help them out and come out that night and enjoy yourself and help out a good cause. Christmas Day 2015, was a very memorable day in many ways. What should have been time spent with loved ones, eating and being merry quickly turned into tragedy and heartache. Thousands of West Virginia residents had their Christmas Day plans interrupted with heavy rains that produced flooding. Water backed up in several sections of Putnam and Kanawha counties. Kanawha County Metro 911 answered over 650 calls that day and were dispatched to nearly 270 of them. The also had 98 high water reports and dispatched crews to 31 water rescues between 10 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. There were dozens more rescues in Putnam County. The state Division of Highways also had to dispatch crews to Interstate 77 near Eden’s Fork and Interstate 79 near Amma following rock slides. Numerous water rescues took place in Sissonville, Cross Lanes and Clendenin in Kanawha County and Bill’s Creek, Winfield and various other locations in Putnam County. Twelve residents were rescued from multiple homes on Lotus Drive in Sissonville, Kanawha County emergency officials said, “in Edens Fork, the flood waters rushed in gallon by gallon. Soon, and without warning, the whole valley around Two Mile Creek was under several feet of water trapping residents on Christmas morning“. Kanawha Two Mile road wasn’t the only place hit hard. The high water made an unsettled Christmas Day for impacted residents and first responders. “We are always grateful for the first responders that work to assist during emergency calls in our area, but especially today, on Christmas, when many are away from their families, we are thankful that our first responders are taking care of calls and are helping our loved ones,” Kanawha County Commission President Kent Carper said. Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin also thanked first responders on Twitter. “Thanks to all the dedicated emergency responders and @wvdot employees helping with high water issues today. Check @WV511 for road updates.” Some say the Christmas miracle was that no one lost their lives in these flash floods. Even so, many businesses and families lost everything else However, there was good among all this evil that day. One small town of Newton showed us that there are still good people in this cruel world. Two very nice men helped a woman who’s car was stalled in the water at the Beautific Café in Newton, WV in Roane County.