Last Updated on January 31, 2013 4:33 pm
On Wednesday, January 30, 2013, severe flash flooding impacted the Town of Boone and surrounding area. During this weather event, Boone Police, Fire, and Public Works personnel responded to numerous calls for service including many rescue and evacuations. Emergency personnel from the Watauga County Sheriff’s Office, Watauga County Emergency Management, Watauga County Rescue Squad, Foscoe Fire Department, Blowing Rock Fire and Rescue, and Deep Gap Fire Department assisted Town of Boone personnel.
“I am so thankful that we have such a dedicated Town staff to respond to an event like this. I’m also thankful for the numerous emergency volunteer’s that assisted in and around Boone during the flash flooding” – Town of Boone Mayor Loretta Clawson.
During the incident, 225 telephone calls were received by the Boone 911 Communications Center resulting in 46 calls for service. Out of those calls there were 19 water rescue incidents with a total of 46 people being removed from harm, 1 hazardous materials incident and 1 structure fire.
“On behalf of the Town of Boone, I would like to thank our citizens for helping all of our emergency services by keeping us updated with problem areas and also responding properly to our travel advisories. Obviously, weather events are extremely dangerous to the public and public safety officials alike. The less traffic that we have to deal with, the less potential we have for a life threatening event” – Dana Crawford, Chief of Police.
