The Matewan Depot closed its doors on June 3 after it suffered severe flooding in May when flash flooding washed through much of Mingo County.
Although the town of Matewan is surrounded by a flood wall protecting it from the Tug Fork River, water rolled off hills behind the town and into the Depot, said former owner and operator Donna May.
“I just got tired of being flooded,” May said Monday morning.
May said the water flooded the basement of the restaurant and destroyed her deep freeze unit.
May is also the director and organizer of the Matewan Massacre Reenactment. She said she will try to keep the reenactment going.
This year, the reenactment was scheduled to be performed in May, but had to be cancelled due to the flooding.
“We had water in the streets and we had to cancel it,” May said.
The Matewan Depot had been serving food in the small, Mingo County town for nearly two decades.
I wish you had come to talk to me before you wrote this article. There was no real flooding in downtown during May. Did Donna show you anything that was flooded? Water ran into the streets but our flood pump station pumped it back out before anything was flooded. It didn't even get on the sidewalks in front of the Depot.
Sheila