Residents in a West Virginia neighborhood say floodwater rushed onto their properties after heavy weekend rain overwhelmed erosion controls at a data center construction site.

Officials say the flooding damaged garages, crawlspaces, and HVAC equipment, leaving some families concerned about what comes next.

What happened?

WSAZ reported that residents along University Lane in Mason County experienced major flooding over the weekend, and some said the water damaged their homes.

The construction site in question is part of the Monarch Compute Campus, a data center development tied to Nscale that Fidelis New Energy announced earlier this year. Site manager Jason Bechtle said the storm brought about a month's worth of rain in two days.

He told WSAZ that the site's stormwater measures had passed an inspection the prior week. But he said the storm dumped more water than the temporary erosion measures were built to handle during construction and that a stretch of silt fence gave way.

Floodwater in crawlspaces and around foundations can lead to mold, indoor air quality problems, and structural damage.

As data centers linked to artificial intelligence place growing demands on infrastructure and resources, these facilities are prompting debates about local oversight, planning, and transparency.

What's being done?

Bechtle said that teams arrived within an hour of the first report and stayed on-site. He said restoration workers were assigned to each affected garage, lodging was available for anyone who needed it, meals were being provided to affected families, and the company would pay for cleanup and repairs, according to WSAZ.

He also said the damaged fence had been reconstructed. Additionally, crews were reportedly strengthening the stormwater system by carving extra drainage paths, building up a low spot to keep water from flowing toward the neighborhood, and putting down additional sediment barriers.

Lawmakers told WSAZ that state and local officials have been talking with Nscale, the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection, and the governor's office. They said the governor's office coordinated a state National Guard assessment and that talks were ongoing about near-term fixes and a plan to prevent a repeat.

Still, residents like Brandy Michael say they feel uneasy about what transpired over the weekend.

"And now that this has happened to my house and my property, I'm worried about my children's safety and my safety," Michael told WSAZ. "Because now our house has been exposed to all this water underneath of it. I'm worried about mold. I'm worried about our health and safety."

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