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Matoaka, which sits in the lower left corner of Mercer County, about 10 miles above Route 52, and about 12 miles from Princeton, had the bad luck to be flooded both in July 2001 and May 2002. Even more unfortunate are the Lyons family. Not only were they flooded twice, they may not even be able to stay in their very nice brick home. That's because the Mayor has declared much of the town a flood plain, which puts strict restrictions on building and living there.

We have not visited Matoaka yet. But the Lyons sent this story and some photos taken right after the May 2 flood.

This makes the 3rd time for us in the 6 years we've owned our home. (We've lived in Matoaka for only 10 years) I've been told that the last time there was any flooding was back in the late 40's or early 50's. They dredged the creek and the problem was solved until 6 years ago. I've also heard that the town has received 2 grants previous to the May flooding to dredge the creek, but it hasn't been done yet. The town put large rocks on the creek bank instead. I don't know what good that was to accomplish.

As far as mines etc, this area was once a huge coal mining area but everything has shut down. There are supposed to be mining tunnels under a majority of this area. There is a mine in operation at Herndon Mountain which is about a 20 minute drive from here towards Pineville on Rt 10. I don't think there is a big company that cuts down the trees but there is one man who owns a small saw mill and he cuts down ALOT of trees and sells them to places like Georgia Pacific and the Dean Company. I'm not sure exactly where he lives, but it is between Matoaka and Herndon Mountain. I'm also not sure about the slate dumps, but I would assume that because of the abandoned coal mines in the immediate area, there probably are some slate dumps. There is also a lot of land that people ride their 4wheelers on and they have cut down al ot of timber land for that. The last poker run that was in Matoaka had close to 600 people from what I was told. I can't help but wonder if that might have something to do with the floods too. People who had never been flooded before were hit this time. One woman told me that there is a trail for the 4wheelers on the mountain side behind her home and she said that the water came down that trail like a river.

I know it sounds crazy, but we don't want to sell our home. We've signed the papers for FEMA to buy it but we're having 2nd thoughts. If they would dredge the creek or allow us to build a brick wall around our home, maybe we could be saved from the next one. We own a big brick home and the foundation was not damaged in any of the 3 floods. The basement filled with water the first 2 times and it got up to 6 inches on the first floor this last time. My youngest daughter has nightmares every time she hears thunder, but she also doesn't want to leave our home. My husband was in the Marines and our older children are used to moving, but when we moved here 10 years ago she was only 2 months old. This is the only home she's known.

The part of our home that was damaged was an addition that was built long before we ever bought the house. It was once a porch but the previous owners enclosed it and made it into a laundry room. We had planned on replacing it when we bought the house 6 years ago but were flooded 2 months after we moved in. Every time we get set to replace it, a flood comes. Now the Mayor claims he's had the whole town declared a flood plain and we won't be able to do anything with it. My husband and I see this as OUR property and we should be able to do anything to it that we want. Taking that section off and replacing it will not in any way obstruct the natural flow of the creek - and that creek is normally only 6 inches deep! There is a retaining wall and the water has to raise almost 6 feet to go over that wall to get into our yard. Something needs to be done.

Well, I didn't mean to write so much. Sometimes I get so wrapped up in telling our story that I loose track of time. I've enclosed some photos of this last flood. The first one is our home. You can see the water line on the side of the house. The 2nd one is our garage. The creek was still extremely high as this was the next morning. The 3rd one is a bridge on the other side of town. The bridge held up but the road in front of it crumbled. The 4th one is a church a couple of blocks from here. Again, you can see the water line. The last one is a house near Lake Shawnee. This photo was taken a couple of days after the flood. There are still people who are basically trapped in their homes because of washed out bridges. They have planks from their yards to walk on across the creek so they can get out. It's so sad. I wish there was an easy solution to all of this devastation.

Thank you for taking the time to listen and to create that website. It helps the rest of us know that we aren't the only ones whose lives have been uprooted. We were lucky, we still have our home and our family.

House near Lake Shawnee. Church a couple of blocks from the Lyons Washed-out bridge on the other side of town.