2026-06-16
Ohio County Flood Memorial
On the night of June 14th, 2025, parts of Ohio County WV (Wheeling, Triadelphia, and nearby communities) were hit with a sudden and violent flash flood. Ordinary streets turned into rivers before many could fully grasp what was happening. Neighbors who had shared coffee and lawn chairs hours earlier found themselves wading through rushing water, dragging soaked furniture and treasured photos from basements, or cradling frightened children as sirens cut through the rain. The suddenness of the storm left little time to prepare, and the grief was immediate and intimate — homes that had been full of life were reduced to damp ruins, and families were left to reckon with loss amid the shock and the endless cleanup.
In the weeks that followed, the community’s resilience showed in small, steady ways: volunteers passing out bottled water and blankets, strangers opening their doors to those displaced, and quiet vigils held for neighbors who did not come home. Pain lingered alongside moments of comfort as people shared stories of the ones they’d lost, clung to memories, and began the slow work of rebuilding not just houses but a sense of safety.
Moved by the depth of loss and the strength of the community, Mills Group offered to create a memorial near the Triadelphia United Methodist Church to honor the victims on the one-year anniversary of the tragic event. We envisioned a simple, enduring space where families could gather, names could be read, and the story of that night — and the compassion that followed — could be remembered.
Mills Group strove to design something that spoke to the duality of tragedy. Something that could visually represent both fragility and resilience, death and rebirth, and loss against hope. Using icons of the natural environment, we designed a single flood-stricken tree trunk that despite being plighted, showed signs of strength, new growth, and returning fauna. Wrapped ever so softly in circling helixes around the trunk were the metaphoric water bands, glistening in the sun and supporting the rebirth. Around the base several boulders and plantings are pocketed in and a hugging concrete band with victims’ names held the entire monument together in a unified foundation.
The Memorial Board includes Randy Russell, County Administrator; Melissa Marco, Project Coordinator for Ohio County; Pastor Mike Palmer of the United Methodist Church; and Mary Hess, Mayor of Triadelphia.
Design and construction partners are Savage Construction (site preparation and construction) with Ron Blatt; Concrete Fabricators (cast stone engraved curb) with Chad Martin; Angelina Stone (placing cast stone curbs) with John Emery; Top Notch Landscaping (landscaping) with Chris Duplaga; Mills Group (concept design and project management); and Jeff Forster (monument fabrication).
