When I tell people that my Grandmother has a river right behind her house, some don't believe me. Others don't know what to think. And some just think it's kind of cool. Since she lives in the mountains of West Virginia water runs a bit differently than it does here in Florida. In Florida, the land is very flat. It also also mostly sugar sand so the water soaks right into it. But in West Virginia the ground is hard clay. When it rains on the mountain, the water runs downhill.
Due to all the water running downhill, there are multiple wet weather creeks, drains/ ditches, and very small streams that lead into the main river. In back of my Grandmother's house there is one of these that is only about 300 yards long. My Uncle Wallace has one that runs from the main road across the edge of his property, and into the Guyandotte River. It may be only 150 yards long and inches deep.
All of these tiny streams are important. Since these exist very 300-500 yards on both sides of the river, they feed the river with the water neccasary to keep it flowing. When the rains come the river can move very fast, and raise it's depth level very quickly.
I took some film footage of the river. You can see the side stream that flows into the Guyandotte River. Actually you may be able to hear it, and not see it since it is mostly underground. Near the end of the footage you can see how black the grass is. That's where the river overflowed when heavy rains came. It was amazing to see the river that high. I wish I had gotten footage of that. But none-the-less here is the film footage of the river.
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