At least 40 people were are said to be unaccounted for in the Virginia flooding, as rescue efforts continue Thursday after a torrential downpour inundated a rural Virginia county, tearing homes from their foundations and damaging roads and bridges, CNN reports. But the latest report from the Virginia State Police are saying that the number has now reduced to just 3.
The Virginia State Police said: “the “unaccounted for” number has decreased to 3 people. Local and state police crews are out right now working to locate those remaining three individuals. Still no deaths or injuries reported as a result of the flooding,” the Police said.
According to the report, the 40 people had been reported missing in the Virginia flooding as of Thursday morning, the Buchanan County Sheriff’s Office said, as the death toll remained at zero.
Six inches of rain in just hours Tuesday caused extensive damage in Buchanan County, in western Virginia, CNN meteorologist Robert Shackelford said. “Combined with the fact that the area is mountainous, rainfall is able to collect quickly, and dangerous runoff occurred,” he said.
Just because people are unaccounted for does not mean they are truly missing, officials have emphasized. Phone lines are down in the area, making it difficult to contact anyone affected by the Virginia flooding, Virginia State Police spokesperson Corinne Geller said on Wednesday, CNN reports.
The tally of 44 reflects those whose loved ones haven’t been able to contact them and cases in which law enforcement is “attempting to reach and locate the person and check on their wellbeing,” the Buchanan County Sheriff’s Office said Wednesday in a Facebook post.
The storm was swift and overwhelming, with widespread flooding and road closures reported in just a few hours. Radar estimates indicate 6 inches of rain fell in about four hours starting at 8 p.m. Tuesday, corresponding with a rain event with a 1-in-1,000 chance of happening in a given year.
“We were sitting at this post office over here, and the next thing you know, the house is floating on down through there. We thought it was going to wash off. Two of the houses washed off,” resident Seth Owens told CNN affiliate WCYB.
Virginia’s governor declared a state of emergency to help with recovery efforts.
As searches continue, the forecast Thursday and Friday calls for sun, with high temperatures in the lower to mid-80s, ahead of a slight chance of rain Saturday that increases Sunday and Monday, according to the National Weather Service. The damaging storm was among several that lingered Tuesday night over the county and parts of Kentucky, West Virginia and Virginia.
This region of Appalachia is among those most prone to flash flooding in the country, with many areas also most at risk because of the growing threat of heavy rain, according to a CNN analysis of a report last year from a nonprofit climate research group, First Street Foundation.
The climate crisis is exacerbating flash flooding, too, by increasing the rate of rainfall or the amount of rain that falls in a short period of time. A warmer atmosphere can hold more water, making extreme rainfall events more likely.