Buchanan County is not plains but mountains, and flash floods happen when cloudbursts hit mountain hollow communities with several inches of rain within minutes. Just like with tornadoes, there is no warning.
Thoughts and prayers for all involved.
Ok. Change the word plain to zone.
We have ‘mountain’ property bordering the Nantahala National Forest. We’ve seen what heavy/fast rains can do, even create temporary spectacular waterfalls.
Point is, we’d never put human-built structures in those areas at risk from rising and fast flowing waters. These folks lost everything amd its tragic.
I used to live in West Virginia and he is right. Everyone who is used to the mountains knows not to build on a flood plain. Permanent structures are built up the hill.
The only time I saw buildings flooded was when someone put a trailer beside a creek. The trailer toppled in a flood and created a dam when it hit a bridge. I’m sure the trailer owner thought he would be OK since the creek only flooded that much every 20 or 30 years but he wasn’t in luck that year.