Company to the rescue: Diversified Energy steps up, fixes washed out rural Kanawha road
KANAWHA COUNTY, W.Va. (WCHS) — Flood victims left trapped in their homes by mid-August flooding said they might still be cut off if a company hadn’t come to their rescue.
Diversified Energy had to rebuild a rural road on its own to make that happen.
Bravo Road has fewer potholes now than some paved state roads, but the gravel road to seven homes was destroyed in mid-August flooding along Campbells Creek in Kanawha County.
The damage left people trapped, with going on foot the only approach. Not even an ATV could make it through. The road was not part of the state system, limiting public help. Then Diversified Energy crews came to the rescue through the company’s community service program.
While Diversified sometimes uses the road to reach some pipeline, it had another way to do that and wasn’t obligated to make the repairs.
“That morning they walked outside and literally the water was going down the middle of the road for 300 feet and it washed out at least 5 foot deep right in the middle of the road,” said Rodney Greathouse, production manager for Diversified.
It was a big job – it took about 335 tons of gravel to fix the road.
“No, gravel is not free. It was expensive, but it was nice to be able to help those people out,” Greathouse said.
Some aspects of flood recovery take years, but this small community that looked like it had no way out in more than one way, is back to normal thanks to the volunteer help.
Diversified Energy is based in Alabama but has about 500 workers in West Virginia. It has also helped in flood relief efforts in Kentucky.