Associated Press Published

FEMA to Pay $1.7M for School Facilities

Downtown Richwood, WV, at dawn after hours of heavy rain flooded the little town.

West Virginia’s U.S. senators say the Federal Emergency Management Agency will provide $1.7 million to the state for the Nicholas County School to secure temporary facilities following the flooding in late June that damaged or destroyed buildings.

According to Sens. Shelley Moore Capito and Joe Manchin, FEMA will pay 75 percent of the $2.3 million cost. The state is expected to pay the balance.

Education officials have said students in Nicholas and Kanawha counties displaced by the floods are to be moved from makeshift classrooms to long-term temporary modular units by the start of 2017.

Once they are relocated to permanent facilities, the state hopes to own several modular units that can be deployed in the event of a fire, flood or other disaster.

FEMA says the funding is in addition to a grant announced last week.