In February 2025, McDowell County, West Virginia, was hit once again with historic flooding following “the worst floods” of 1977, 2001, and again in 2002, reports The Appalachian Voice.
“But now,” it reported in July 2025, “the new benchmark for horrible flooding will be Feb. 15, 2025, explains resident Rev. Brad Davis.
“This flood was apocalyptic in its truest Biblical sense,” Davis said.
Rita Dameron is among those McDowell County residents who lived through it, but her home did not come out of it unscathed.
Dyanne Spriggs, executive director of our partner in McDowell County, Big Creek People in Action (BCPIA), told us that Rita is a retired nurse, president of BCPIA’s board of directors, and “a great volunteer of our organization.
“She lives with her disabled husband and daughter in the house that was greatly damaged by the February flood,” Dyanne reported.
Last June, Americans Helping Americans® visited with Rita at her home, where she showed us the basement, where floodwaters rose more than seven feet onto the first floor.
“It took four days to get the water pumped out,” said Rita.
In the days following the devastating flooding, Rita told us flood debris literally was everywhere, and three cars were a total loss.
And to make matters even worse, she said FEMA (the Federal Emergency Management Agency) turned down her family’s request for assistance.
But that was before BCPIA volunteer coordinator Scottie Perez, who oversees its Home Rehab Program supported by Americans Helping Americans® and volunteers, stepped in to help clean up and paint, insulate and panel her ceiling and one wall.
To the supporters of Americans Helping Americans® who provided funding for the materials to make the critical repairs to her home, she said:
“There’d been no way in the world I could’ve done it without their help.”
