FEMA Changes Hinder W.Va. Flood Recovery

West Virginia has seen at least five major flood events over the last two years, but the head of emergency response in the state says changes coming to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) are throwing a monkey wrench into federal support.  

And a state delegate wants to know what actionable plans the state Emergency Management Division Director has to prevent flooding when the next round of rains come.  

When he took office in January 2025, President Donald Trump signed an executive order creating a FEMA Review Council. In May, that council released a report with recommended changes to the agency. One recommendation is to put more of the disaster recovery onus on the states, but most of the recommendations are very broad, and it still isn’t clear how they will be implemented.  Those flooding events include June, July and August 2026 and February and June 2025.

That leaves West Virginia in a bind, according to West Virginia Emergency Management Division Director Matthew Blackwood. He explained to the legislative interim Committee on Flooding Sunday that the state encourages those affected by disaster events to fill out a damage survey, the results of which they then use to apply to FEMA for help.  

“If the damage is severe enough, we will work with FEMA to develop joint damage assessments. And then that is kind of what springboards into the request for a federal declaration,” Blackwood said.  

He detailed the efforts being taken on the most recent event in August.  

“When we run them through the FEMA calculator, that determines if it leans approval or leans denial,” he said. “In this case it was leaning approval, we are in the process of submitting a declaration request for individual assistance and hazard mitigation for Kanawha, Fayette, and Harrison counties for the events in mid-August.” 

In the Sunday afternoon meeting, Blackwood said he had been on the phone with the National Guard several times that morning about flooding over the weekend.  

But disaster declarations and money have not been flowing. Blackwood referred to the July flooding that hit north central West Virginia.  

“We submitted a declaration request for individual assistance, public assistance, and hazard mitigation on July 25. And on Aug. 3, we received an IA only declaration,” he said. “The declared counties for [individual assistance] are Lewis, Pleasants, Ritchie, and Upshur.” 

He said FEMA has sent just under $13 million in direct assistance to the people of the state.

“We are still waiting to hear on the other requests. Just last week I was meeting with the federal coordinating officer who is here to support this disaster and they have not heard anything either,” Blackwood told legislators. “They’re saying it’s in process. We have three counties that we’re waiting to hear for individual assistance and 12 counties for public assistance and waiting to hear about hazard mitigation statewide.” 

Blackwood noted that the state applied for individual assistance and hazard mitigation for the mid-June floods, primarily in Boone and Logan counties, but both those programs were denied Aug. 3.  He said the state filed an official appeal on Aug. 31 but had not heard back yet. 

“Over the last several months, we have been taking steps to better understand what the potential changes are that are coming to FEMA,” Blackwood said. “I can still say that there is more that we do not know than that we know. And to be clear, no state knows all of the changes that might be coming. And the new FEMA administrator, he continues to say change is coming, but even FEMA staff do not know what changes are coming to them.” 

Del. David Green, R-McDowell, asked Blackwood what flood prevention plans the state has.  

“What is being done to prevent future flooding going on in the future? Of course, I know we can’t stop the rain. But there is things that we definitely can do to be able to make sure that we know where that water is going to go and try to channel it appropriately,” he said. “So what’s being done right now by your department in particular and other departments that you work with on trying to prevent future flooding events?” 

“So one of the things that I’m personally and I guess professionally that has disappointed me recently with FEMA has been that they have not granted hazard mitigation since the February 25 event,” Blackwood said. “And hazard mitigation, it’s a program that has proven itself to be very beneficial. For every dollar we spend, you save $6 or so.” 

“I didn’t hear of any particular, here are things that we’re going to do to potentially move dirt, add plants, whatever needs to be done to mitigate future high-level water,” Green said. “And we can’t just look at funding streams, but we really need to look at actual solutions. What is going to stop water from getting close to houses? And so I would like to challenge your department as well as the state government as a whole. We have to start looking at this. The floods that we’ve had in 26 and 25 has cost lives and there is not a single West Virginian’s life that is worth being lost in a future flooding event. So I would like to be able to see this state take future floods a lot more seriously than what we have. We do a decent job in reacting to them when they actually happen. And we’re always looking to improve that, and that’s wonderful. But we need to stop as much damage as possible before they actually happen. So we’d love to be able to see us as a whole work on that.” 

In 2004, the “WV Flood Protection Task Force, with help from Senator Robert C. Byrd, has presented the first ever West Virginia Statewide Flood Protection Plan. The plan was presented to a joint committee of the West Virginia Legislature, which is evaluating flood protection options.” 

The document is available for download on the West Virginia Conservation Agency website, but few, if any, of the recommendations were put in place.