McDowell schools seek bids to repair flood-damaged Southside football field

Flood silt, damaged fencing and a tight repair schedule now define the push to restore Southside Football Field. McDowell County Schools is seeking bids for the work, a sign that the field remains in recovery mode after flooding left visible damage at one of the county’s key athletic sites.

The June 8 notice sets a July 1, 2026, deadline for bids at 1:00 p.m. at the McDowell County Board of Education office, 900 Mt. View Road in Welch. The project carries a substantial-completion target of 60 calendar days and a final-completion deadline of 75 calendar days, with liquidated damages of $750 per day if a contractor runs late. The documents identify the job as Thrasher Project # T60-11573.

The scope goes well beyond routine field upkeep. The contractor would have to do grading and excavating, remove flood silt and debris from part of the athletic field, regrade disturbed areas, seed and mulch the surface, and replace damaged fencing. Work also includes removing flood debris from fence sections that remain intact, a detail that shows the field was not only worn down but physically hit by stormwater and carried material.

Bidding documents are available through QuestCDN and The Thrasher Group, signaling a formal engineering and procurement process rather than a simple maintenance call. For Southside K-8 School and the Southside community around War, the timeline matters because football fields often serve as more than practice space. They are where students play, families gather and local game days bring traffic to nearby roads and businesses.

The repair effort lands against the backdrop of McDowell County’s long flood recovery. A major disaster declaration on February 26, 2025, covered McDowell, Mercer, Mingo and Wyoming counties after the incident period began on February 15, 2025. Regional reporting from the storm described at least three deaths, dozens of people missing and more than 700 rescues, while one-year-later coverage in February 2026 said recovery remained slow.

McDowell County Schools had already been forced into emergency mode during the disaster, with some schools used around the clock as places for people to sleep, eat and use facilities. Later, the district said it used the summer to help students catch up after instructional time lost to flooding. The Southside field bid notice fits that larger picture: even as the county keeps working through road, school and community damage, athletic spaces are still waiting their turn to come back online.