About 200 tombstones at West Virginia cemetery destroyed in mudslide

WHEELING, W.Va. (WTRF) — A West Virginia cemetery, where thousands of people are buried, was severely damaged in a mudslide following powerful storms early Wednesday.

An estimated 200 tombstones were washed out at the Wheeling Mt Zion Cemetery Corporation, according to the cemetery. A group of volunteers that has maintained the grounds since 2015 said that the topsoil and monuments were torn off, but the caskets were not moved.

"I think the graves are OK. I think the mud just came down and slid over the top of the grass," said Charles Yocke, the president of Wheeling Mt. Zion Cemetery Corporation.

Several residents visited the 19-acre cemetery on Wednesday to check on the condition of their loved ones' gravesites. The sight of rubble had some people stopping in disbelief.

"I came right away, as soon as I saw it because my grandparents are right next to where all that [mud] fell. But their headstone is still there, same place, and I feel better," resident Shawn Hartman told Nexstar's WTRF.

With a similar feeling of relief, resident Heather Whitmire said: "We came down to see if our dad's and our grandparents' graves were OK...and they are. They’re on the other side of this."

The mudslide happened while West Virginia’s Northern Panhandle was under a flood warning. As of Wednesday afternoon, that warning remains in effect in the area and in parts of north central West Virginia after most of the state experienced excessive rainfall this week.