In the event of a breach to any of the 11 coal slurry impoundments currently operational in Boone County, officials say emergency plans in place.

According to Deputy Director of the Boone County Emergency Management Agency, Greg Lay, Boone County has updated emergency plans in place with the Boone County Ambulance Authority’s EMS and Sheriff’s Office in the event of a mandatory evacuation.

Despite having evacuation written evacuation plans, Boone County lacks evacuation route signs to guide residents to the safety of evacuation centers.

“We’ve discussed marking some evacuation routes,” Lay told the Coal Valley News, the added that in a geographic location such as the southern coalfields of West Virginia, the evacuation routes could change depending on the type of emergency.

“Usually you just have a choice of two directions. It is really incident driven,” he said. “It just depends on the level of the water and depends on the location.”

According to Lay, emergency responders have also considered using some of the old mining roads to get people out of harms way in case of a catastrophic event, but then warned that such a tactic could cause more confusion.

“Right now we have the WARN system, a rapid emergency alert system, in place,” Lay said, explaining that if a mandatory evacuation was necessary, the WARN system would give detailed evacuation routes to the residents it reaches.

The WARN system uses mass telephone calls to specified geographic locations when alerting area residents of an emergency.

Lay, who has more than 18 years experience working in the coal mining industry, said that it has been his observation that coal companies take elevated levels in the coal slurries very seriously.

“If there is rainfall that produces two inches of rain or more, I’ve seen them call someone in to do an inspection; that is something they took very seriously.”

Lay also commented, “If everyone is doing their jobs, we should know well in advance [of a need to evacuate.]”

Contact Joanie Newman at jnewman@coalvalleynews.com or call 304-369-1165.