The Latest: The Greenbrier hit by ‘heavy flooding’

CHARLESTON, W.Va. – The Latest on the storms crossing West Virginia (all times local):

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7:30 p.m.

The Greenbrier resort says it’s working to keep guests and workers safe as the area is hit by flooding.

The resort said in a news release that “torrential rains” fell throughout the day Thursday, causing “heavy flooding throughout the resort and in surrounding areas.”

“It’s like nothing I’ve seen,” said Jim Justice, the resort’s owner and CEO.

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5:50 p.m.

West Virginia Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin has declared a state of emergency for two counties ravaged by storms for the entire day.

Tomblin issued the proclamation for Greenbrier and Nicholas counties on Thursday evening.

The proclamation says the storm has caused rockslides, mudslides and flooding and has damaged homes, businesses, roads and bridges. It says parts of the two counties have been rendered inaccessible by infrastructure damage.

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5:20 p.m.

The city of Richwood has evacuated a nursing home and moved certain disabled and elderly residents due to extensive flooding.

Richwood Mayor Robert Johnson says the Nicholas County Nursing & Rehabilitation Center was evacuated. People were moved to the Liberty Baptist Church.

Johnson says business and residential loss will be extensive. He says all of the stores in Cherry River Plaza have several inches of water in them.

He says it will likely take days to assess the full damage.

Elsewhere, Joe Coughlin of Greenbrier County Homeland Security & Emergency Management says some first responders there are picking people up at their homes by boat and bringing them to shelters.

Jackson County 911 Communications Director Walter Smittle said people in a trailer park left voluntarily as the water rose.

Officials said the evacuations in Jackson and Greenbrier counties were not mandatory.

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1 p.m.

A nursing home in Ritchie County has been evacuated because of rising water levels from ongoing storms.

West Virginia Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management spokesman Timothy Rock says Pine View Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Harrisville was evacuated Thursday.

Storms rolled into West Virginia early Thursday and are continuing throughout the day. About 34,000 Appalachian Power and FirstEnergy customers combined remain without power.

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12:10 p.m.

West Virginia roads officials are dealing with downed trees and power poles, high water, accidents and other problems due to ongoing storms.

Department of Transportation spokesman Brent Walker says the Transportation Management Center is reporting minor high-water issues statewide. The centre also says hundreds of trees and some power poles are down across the state.

The Interstate 79 Burnsville Rest Area is closed because of no power and so is the Nicholas County Division of Highways garage.

Several accidents have been reported due to hydroplaning, and there are intermittent traffic signal outages.

Storms rolled into West Virginia early Thursday and have continued. About 40,000 Appalachian Power and FirstEnergy customers combined remain without power.

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9:50 a.m.

More than 39,000 customers are without power in West Virginia after thunderstorms crossed the state.

Outage reports as of 9:30 a.m. Thursday show storms cut power for about 18,100 FirstEnergy and 21,500 Appalachian Power customers.

The most affected county was Kanawha, with about 4,600 customers without power. Raleigh County had 3,800 without power.

About 2,900 in Braxton County lost power, more than 33 per cent of its customers.

Storms rolled into West Virginia early Thursday and have continued.

Meanwhile, the National Weather Service confirmed an EF-1 tornado, which has wind speeds of up to 110 mph, hit Nicholas County on Tuesday.

The service says the tornado touched down 3 miles northeast of Richwood and ended in Greenbrier County, damaging mostly trees and power poles.