Big Stone Gap, Virginia · 5 minute read
Big Stone Gap, VA: Feeding Flood Shelters in Wise County
Wise County declared a flood emergency in February 2025 and opened a shelter at Carnes Gym in Big Stone Gap. Planning shelter meals with kitchen trailers.
Published 2026-11-14 · Updated 2026-11-14
On February 15, 2025, Wise County Emergency Management announced that “Wise County has declared a local State of Emergency due to heavy rainfall and ongoing flash flooding across the region,” The Coalfield Progress reported, with shelters set to open that afternoon at Wise Primary School and at Carnes Gym, 505 E 5th Street, in Big Stone Gap. WJHL reported the same weekend that Buchanan, Dickenson, Lee, Russell, Scott, and Wise counties were all under local emergencies, and that Buchanan County alone had over 1,200 calls for service and over 280 people rescued.
Shelters need a kitchen
A gym is a good shelter and a poor kitchen. When a shelter runs more than a day or two, someone has to cook hot meals on a schedule and keep food cold. A kitchen trailer parked beside the building, with a refrigerated trailer for donated food, gives volunteers and staff a permitted place to do it. By the time WJHL reported, Wise County's shelters had closed, which is typical: the need can be short, so weekly terms matter.
Getting equipment into the coalfields
Mountain roads close in floods, so the delivery plan names a route and a backup, and the trailer is staged once the road is open. Local emergency managers coordinate the public response through VDEM; a private rental is arranged separately with the facility running the shelter.
This article uses public reporting; it does not describe a past customer. Big Stone Gap location page