PRINCETON, W.Va. – Accolades were given to Mercer County Emergency Management Director Keith Gunnoe during the County Commission meeting on Oct. 8.
The commission passed a resolution recognizing Gunnoe and everyone who assisted in recovery efforts following Hurricane Helene.
Gunnoe said since the storm started to make an impact in our area on September 27, he has worked 100 hours in overtime. He and his team worked around the clock coordinating resources to help all those who were impacted by the hurricane.
Gunnoe says this event has shown what the county is able to do throughout a disaster and what things they need to change in the future to plan for an emergency event.
“We’ve got a good, resilient bunch in our county as far as citizens and responders,” said Gunnoe. “I was driving around through the aftermath of the wind event Friday and there were churches and civic groups and people that were just out helping. It takes a village. We’ve got a pretty good village here at times with our county and our residents.”
Even though Gunnoe was honored, he named all the people and businesses that had a part in helping the community during and after the storm.
- Theresa White, WV Homeland Security Area Liaison – Region 5
- Mercer County Commission
- City of Bluefield officials
- Princeton City officials
- West Virginia Department of Highways and District 10 for clearing roads
- West Virginia Department of Forestry for helping cut up trees and branches
- Grant’s Supermarket for donating gift cards for people in need
- Mercer County Volunteer Firemen (Montcalm and Matoaka Vol. fire departments worked 24 hours from Friday until Sunday)
- Raleigh County and Summers County Emergency Managers sent fire trucks
- American Red Cross
- Princeton and Beckley Salvation Army provided 9,100 meals including snacks for line workers who stayed at the 4-H camp at Glenwood Park
- Lifeline Church in Princeton for feeding first responders
- Lori Mills, Mercer County Dilapidated Structures Officer
- Shawn White, President of the Mercer County Firemen’s Association
- Line workers from AEP including workers that traveled from Vermont, West Texas, Indiana, southeast Ohio.
- Carl and Brenda Pruett for helping accommodate line workers
- WVU Medicine Princeton Community Hospital for providing laundry service
- Walmart set up a shower and laundry facility for people without power and water
- East River Amateur Radio Club that provided 911 center assistance when their call center went down because of radio tower issues (not one 911 call was missed, over 500 calls came in just on Friday)
- Mercer County Dispatchers
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