Representatives from U.S. Senators Robert Byrd and Jay Rockefeller, Congressman Nick Rahall, and Gov. Joe Manchin III met with engineers, environmental experts, spokespeople for state environmental agencies and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers at a workshop Friday to discuss the Main Island Creek dredging and possible stream restoration projects and to exchange ideas in how to combat repetitive seasonal flooding.

The workshop was called by the Logan County Commission and it packed the commission meeting room, where people discussed delays to various projects and some other concepts that had worked to cut down on flooding in Garrett's Fork and other areas in the state. The county's most recent bout of flooding came last weekend and was directly caused by two to four inches of rainfall, with the highest amounts falling in the Big Sandy and Guyandotte River Basins.

County Commission President Art Kirkendoll said Gov. Manchin toured the affected areas and had shown great interest in projects like the flood mitigation buyout program and the stream restoration projects and asked the large group to share their ideas about possible solutions to alleviate the routine seasonal flooding problem.

"We think this is of great concern to yourselves and to all of our county," explained Logan Economic Department Association Director Rocky Adkins.

Almost all state and local agencies were represented