The Latest: Governor adds 7 counties to disaster request
LEWISBURG, W.Va. (AP) - The Latest on flooding that has devastated parts of West Virginia (all times local):
11:20 a.m.
Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin has added seven counties to his request for a federal disaster declaration for flood-ravaged West Virginia. That would bring the number of counties in the request to 51 out of 55 in the state.
The counties added by Tomblin in a statement Tuesday are Clay, Fayette, Monroe, Pocahontas, Roane, Summers and Webster.
The three hardest-hit counties - Greenbrier, Kanawha and Nicholas - have already received approval for a federal declaration. Federal Emergency Management Agency crews are working with residents and providing individual assistance.
Those affected can apply for aid online or by phone.
Flash flooding last week damaged thousands of homes and businesses and killed 23 people.
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10:45 a.m.
Actress Jennifer Garner is urging support for a charity she is involved with that is assisting families following devastating flooding in West Virginia.
Garner grew up in Charleston and is a member of the Save the Children board of trustees. The group offers early education, literacy, activity and nutrition programs for children.
It partners with local schools to help nearly 2,000 children in West Virginia. Three of the counties it serves have been ravaged by flooding: Roane, Calhoun and Nicholas. Garner says her "heart is breaking" for the state.
The group's West Virginia director, Anna Hardway, says it has been unable to make contact with half of the families in its programs due to flood-related power and phone outages.
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7:15 a.m.
Jim Justice, the Democratic nominee for governor of West Virginia, says he will pause his campaign for at least two weeks so he can concentrate on helping flood victims.
Justice says he has started a relief fund called Neighbors Loving Neighbors to help those who lost their homes or other possessions in last week's devastating floods that killed 23 people.
He says "politicking is the last thing that's on my mind," and though his headquarters will remain open, he won't personally campaign.
Thousands of homes and businesses across the mountainous state were damaged or destroyed when up to 9 inches of rain fell in a short span, causing perhaps the worst flooding West Virginia has seen in three decades. More than 400 people are living in shelters statewide.
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4 a.m.
Like the other business operators on Main Street in Rainelle, Pamela Wallace Arnold is slowly cleaning up from West Virginia's worst flooding in decades. She's also preparing to help bury the dead.
She runs Wallace and Wallace, one of two funeral chapels in this rain-soaked West Virginia town of 1,500 residents. Wallace is doing double duty drying out her business started by her great-great-grandfather in 1926 while planning the funerals of flood victims in the coming days.
Rainelle is in Greenbrier County, where 15 of the state's 23 deaths from last week's devastating floods have occurred.
Where the visitations will be held, not even Wallace knows. She's also not sure whether she can ever reopen at the same location.
She just understands the community needs her.