Clay County Story Archives - West Virginia Public Broadcasting

Less Than Three Weeks Left To Claim Aid For Flood Damages

The deadline to file a federal aid claim over personal property damaged in August 2023 flooding incidents is April 1. West Virginia residents of several counties can receive grants for damages not covered by insurance.

West Virginia residents have until April 1 to claim federal aid for property damages or losses resulting from flash flooding in August 2023.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) announced the deadline for filing claims Wednesday. It applies to residents of Boone, Calhoun, Clay, Harrison and Kanawha counties.

Last summer, flash flooding ravaged homes and businesses across southern and central West Virginia. In January, President Joe Biden declared the incident a major disaster, which allowed residents to claim federal disaster recovery funds through FEMA.

So far, more than $1 million has been allocated to disaster recovery efforts.

FEMA grants do not need to be repaid, and the organization encourages residents to apply for aid even if they have insurance. FEMA does not provide grants for damages covered by insurance, but will subsidize costs not covered through insurance claims.

Although most aid claims focus on structural damages, FEMA can also help cover some specific damages not included in insurance plans. This can include wells, furnaces, private roads, private bridges and septic systems.

For more information on how to file a claim, residents can contact FEMA’s Disaster Assistance Helpline at 1 (800) 621-3362, or visit disaster recovery centers in Boone, Clay, Harrison or Kanawha counties.

To learn more about filing a claim online, visit www.DisasterAssistance.gov.

FEMA Offers Guidance To Residents Seeking Flood Aid

The Federal Emergency Management Agency has provided guidance to residents seeking federal aid after floods ravaged several counties in southern and central West Virginia in August.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has distributed letters to some residents of Boone, Calhoun, Clay, Harrison and Kanawha counties affected by flooding in August 2023.

These letters were distributed to residents who applied for federal relief funds. They outline applicants’ eligibility for funds, and next steps to claim them.

Last summer, flash floods swept southern and central West Virginia, damaging homes and businesses across the counties.

On Jan. 30, President Joe Biden officially declared the flooding incident a major disaster, opening the region and its residents to federal recovery funds. The funds can be applied to home repairs, property loans and more.

Since the disaster declaration, FEMA has allocated more than $1 million to the West Virginia counties. FEMA supplied residents an additional $72,000 cumulatively for other disaster costs like childcare and medical expenses.

FEMA has encouraged individuals affected by the flooding to file insurance claims immediately. Costs not covered by insurance can be covered through FEMA funds, and an end date for the application period has not yet been announced.

For residents who have already submitted their applications, letters from FEMA regarding next steps should have already come, or soon be on their way.

The letters will state if residents need to submit supplemental information to complete their claims, like proof of insurance, proof of occupancy in a house affected by the flooding and proof of ownership of said property.

FEMA encouraged residents to promptly submit necessary supplemental materials and to follow guidance provided in the letters. FEMA also encouraged residents who have not yet filed a claim to do so as soon as possible.

For more information on the eligibility letters, residents can contact FEMA’s Disaster Assistance Helpline at (800) 621-3362, or visit disaster recovery centers in Boone, Clay, Harrison or Kanawha counties.

For more information on the disaster declaration and submitting a federal aid claim, residents can visit fema.gov/disaster/4756.

State Board Of Education Approves Closure Of Four Elementary Schools

The West Virginia Board of Education approved the closure of four elementary schools in three counties, raising concerns among community members.

The West Virginia Board of Education approved the closure of four elementary schools in three counties during their meeting Dec. 13, 2023.

H.E. White Elementary School and Lizemore Elementary School in Clay County, as well as Ranger Pre-K through 5 in Lincoln County will close at the end of the 2023-2024 academic year. Norwood Elementary in Harrison County was already closed under emergency procedures in July after structural engineers identified issues that made the building unsafe for students.

In their impact statements, both Clay and Lincoln counties cited declining population and enrollment for the closures. Senate Bill 51, which went into effect on June 5, requires impact statements including transportation time of the affected students be written in certain instances of school closing or consolidation.

Clay County said their overall student enrollment has decreased by 19.2 percent, representing a loss of 385 students from 2015-2016 to 2022-2023. Lincoln County stated an enrollment decrease of 7.8 percent, representing a loss of 794 students over the last 10 years.

Several parents and community members spoke in opposition of the closures in Clay and Lincoln.

Christina Mounts said she did not understand why Ranger Elementary was being singled out for facilities issues that are also present in other county school buildings.

“The comprehensive educational facilities plan identified most of these same deficiencies as present in at least five of the other schools in Lincoln County,” she said. “Why are the other five schools not being held to the same standard?”

Mounts called Ranger Elementary the heart of the community, and its closure would not be in the best interest of students’ educational needs.

Mike Nichols said due to its rural setting, the closure of Lizemore Elementary will have a greater impact on the local community than a closure in an urban area.

“Often in urban areas, there are community centers, other schools, other facilities close by where kids can still meet and play and practice,” Nichols said. “No such luxury exists for our community. Our area, the school and the gymnasium are the community center. The ball field and the playground is the park. They go away, we have nothing. Nothing.”

Longer bus routes resulting from the school consolidations was a particular concern amongst the speakers. All three counties applied for waivers to create bus routes longer than 45 minutes for the new consolidated schools. Under WVBE Policy 4336, county boards of education cannot create a bus route longer than 15 minutes over the 30 minute maximum recommended duration for elementary school students without state board approval.

Lynn Taylor spoke against the closures of H.E. White Elementary School and Lizemore Elementary School in Clay County. She and others said they had been told new bus routes could be as long as 70 minutes. Taylor, who has a child with autism, also raised concern of sending her children so far away from their parents.

“What’s gonna happen when he goes to Clay and we’re an hour and a half away from him?” she said. “That’s the things that we see that’s gonna happen with these closures of the schools. The parents aren’t going to be close enough to make kids feel secure. The parent involvement is going to drop in the schools.”

Phil Dobbins, superintendent of Clay County Schools, said the closure of Lizemore Elementary would shorten existing bus routes, most of which run close to or over an hour in length from first pick up to drop off at the elementary school.

“These routes will be shortened by about 10 minutes because buses will not have to make the loop at Lizemore Elementary to safely drop off, get back out on the highway and head to Clay (Elementary),” he said. “So that 10 minute decrease would reduce those times to 50 minutes, 57 (minutes), 43 (minutes) and 50 minutes respectively and again, we’re not creating any new route.”

Board member Debra Sullivan questioned the broader trend of closures and consolidations in the state, with particular focus on the role of state policy in the issue.

“Is it our counties’ fault that the state population has fallen over the past two plus decades?” she said. “Is the school aid formula addressing the realities facing our schools today? Is the formula taking into account poverty rates and percentages of children needing special ed services?”

Sullivan noted that many of the schools being closed in recent years are older, and built to accommodate former, larger populations.

“Only a fraction as many students are now enrolled,” she said. “Applying building utilization percentages based on 20 or 25 students, it’s an old metric. It doesn’t support today’s reality.”

Board President Paul Hardesty reminded Sullivan and the rest of the board that they were not considering an issue of policy, and were required to vote in accordance with the existing regulations.

All four closures and bus route waivers were approved.

Flooded Communities Face Uncertainty With More Rain On The Way

Flooding throughout the day Monday caused significant damage to roads, houses and bridges in central and southern West Virginia. There have been no deaths reported so far due to flooding. Officials are still working to assess damage. Many houses were flooded, and some were washed away.

Updated on Monday, Aug. 28, 2023 at 6:30 p.m.

Flooding throughout the day caused significant damage to roads, houses and bridges in central and southern West Virginia.

There have been no deaths reported so far due to flooding. Officials are still working to assess damage. Many houses were flooded and some were washed away.

Communities along Witcher Creek, Slaughter Creek and Fields Creek saw some of the most significant flooding. Waters have retreated back to creeks and rivers — where flows remain dangerously high. However, with more rain likely this evening and tomorrow, flood advisories remain active.

The National Weather Service said another inch of rain could be on the way Monday night.

Kanawha County Commissioner Lance Wheeler was at the Emergency Operations Center at Kanawha County Metro 911. He said fire departments in Charleston and Fayette and Cabell counties are waiting to see what the weather does, and where the water goes.

“Everybody’s still on standby. They are looking at what water is coming and what it’s going to look like and if there are going to be more evacuations necessary,” said Wheeler.

Wheeler said this amount of rainfall — 6-9 inches in affected areas — coupled with already saturated soil from a rainy weekend made the floods an especially dangerous situation.

“So, the flooding has been enormous at this point,” he said. “If there’s anyone out there who thinks that this is just a small flood that hit this area, they’re drastically wrong.”

Kanawha County officials say that from 6:45 a.m., when the Kanawha County Metro 911 started receiving calls, until 4 p.m., there were more than 700 calls and 22 water rescues. Assessors have not released official numbers, but Wheeler said that around 60 homes were washed away in the floods.

Jenna Sigmon lives along one of the most heavily flooded creeks, Slaughter Creek, and said she is used to floods, but this one is one of the worst she has ever seen.

“It was like kind of crazy, because we just woke up this morning and there was massive floods,” she said. “And the water came up over the bank all into our yard.”

Her house was flooded. Sigmon went over to a neighbor’s house across the road to get away from the water, but the water ended up crossing the street over to that house as well.

“It just kept rising and rising. Like two feet within ten minutes,” said Sigmon.

The water did eventually recede, but her yard and others around were bogged with water. She said she was expecting a flood, but not one this bad.

If you or anyone you know needs assistance escaping flooding, call 911 or (304) 348–8111 to reach the Metro 911 Emergency flood line.

Original Post: Flash Flood Emergency Declared In Several W.Va. Counties

The National Weather Service Monday issued a flash flood emergency for Kanawha County that is considered life threatening. It also issued flash flood warnings for parts of Braxton, Calhoun, Clay, and Roane counties. The National Weather Service says residents should seek higher ground and avoid flooded areas.

Gov. Jim Justice declared a State of Emergency in those counties. Heavy rainfall over the weekend and throughout Monday morning has caused flash floods that have damaged homes, roads, and bridges in affected areas. There are reports of high water along Witcher Creek in eastern Kanawha County.

The West Virginia Emergency Management Division has implemented an emergency plan to mobilize appropriate personnel and resources to respond to the emergency.

The National Guard is working to prepare for emergency dispatch with arial assets like helicopters, swift water rescues teams, and extra personnel. Kanawha County’s Emergency Operations Center is actively working to assist with water rescues and other emergency assistance.

The West Virginia Division of Highways is working to assist residents and clear the road from culverts, mudslides, and other damage from heavy rains throughout affected counties. Mudslides closed both lanes of US 60 in Belle and on the West Virginia Turnpike near Chelyan at Mile Marker 85.5 where the southbound right lane is closed.

FEMA, local officials, and other organizations are also working to offer aid to residents needing assistance.

W.Va. First Foundation Elects Board Members

The foundation will handle 72.5 percent of the state’s settlement funds, while 24.5 percent will go to local governments. The remaining three percent will be held by the state in escrow to cover any outstanding attorney’s fees.

Through settlements from various lawsuits with opioid manufacturers and distributors, West Virginia stands to gain about $1 billion over the next 10 to 15 years.

The money should be used for recovery and prevention programs. To make sure it is spent correctly, the West Virginia Legislature created the West Virginia First Foundation to distribute those settlement funds in the 2023 regular session. Senate Bill 674 legally recognizes the creation of the foundation. It was signed into law on March 11.

The board includes 11 members, six selected by the counties and five appointed by the governor. All six regions elected their representatives this week via a quorum of elected officials from the towns, cities and counties of each region.

West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey addressed the vital need for fiscal responsibility in distributing these funds, noting the time it could take to receive all abatement funding.

“Some of our settlements, we negotiated upfront one-year flat fee, but many others were two years, five years, 10, 15 years, and it goes out over a period of time,” Morrisey said. “That’s why it’s really important that financial management is part of this process as well, so that the money doesn’t get squandered, and that there’s a lot of planning for the future.”

The board members will make decisions about how the funds will be distributed. An “expert panel” will be formed after the board is seated to advise in these funding decisions.

Dr. Michael “Tony” Kelly of Raleigh County was the first board member selected on July 5 to represent Region 6. Kelly was joined July 12 by Berkeley County Community Corrections Director Timothy Czaja and Parkersburg Mayor Tom Joyce, selected to represent Region 2 and Region 3 respectively.

Per the memorandum of understanding that frames the settlement distribution, board members will serve staggered terms of three years. An Executive Director will be appointed by the Attorney General and approved by the board.

At the Region 5 West Virginia First Foundation Regional Selection Meeting, Dr. Matthew Christiansen was elected to represent Cabell, Clay, Boone, Kanawha, Lincoln, Logan, Putnam, Mason, Mingo and Wayne Counties.

Region-5-West-Virginia-Foundation-Regional-Selection-Meeting Download

Christiansen is also West Virginia’s State Medical Director and the Commissioner of the Department of Health and Human Resources Bureau of Public Health.

“These dollars in the foundation are state dollars, but my appointment on this board is through Region Five. If there is a potential conflict of interest there, I could recuse myself from those votes,” Christiansen said. “But I think the importance here is transparency and accountability around where the money is going so that everyone can see that that there are no nefarious issues that are happening that that would account for that. But as it currently stands, I don’t see any necessary areas of overlap where that might be an issue.”

At the meeting members of the Kanawha County Commission also voted to require board meetings of the foundation be conducted in compliance with the West Virginia Open Meetings Act.

While Morrisey highlighted the need for transparency, he also said many questions won’t be answered until the board is seated.

“I think that as time goes forward, once that board gets constituted, I think they will be setting up a lot of the rules of the road in terms of how there’ll be interactions and I encourage, strongly encourage public processes where people get to participate,” Morrisey said. “So, I think that’s important. I think the goal of this was to have an open, transparent process, but also be able to bring experts together and to allow for some expertise and deliberation as well.”

Region 4 elected Marion County businessman Jonathan Board to represent them on the board Thursday. The region covers 13 counties including Monongalia, Marion, Preston, Taylor, Doddridge, Harrison, Barbour, Tucker, Gilmer, Lewis, Braxton, Upshur and Randolph.

Board says West Virginia has a unique opportunity to address the issues opioids have caused and stop the destruction.

“The question is what happens to the next generation, we are teetering on complete catastrophe,” Board said. “That’s why this is a beautiful thing where we can step in and say, we’re going to stem the tide. We’re going to fill the gap. And we’re going to find solutions. But we have to do it now.”

He acknowledged that although every community represented by the board is facing the same issue, each community will require a different approach to a solution.

“I think that’s what’s so special about this opportunity,” Board said. “Our needs in Elkins and in Fairmont, and in Morgantown and in Harrison County, they’re all different. We’re dealing with the same challenge. But it needs different solutions. And that’s why this is really valuable.”

Board also said there will need to be a robust vetting process to ensure the money is spent correctly and with communities’ best interests in mind.

This is not the first time the state has received a large amount of money to address chronic issues. At Thursday’s meeting David Street, a member of the Barbour County Commission and director of an hospital emergency department, brought up the issue of trying to administer federal broadband money appropriately.

“I live in this world every day, and every night at the commission meetings,” Street said. “My observation is this: in both worlds, I’m seeing 501(C)3s and groups pop up like a plague. It disgusts me.”

Monongalia County Commissioner Tom Bloom, who led the Region 4 meeting, thanked Street for his comment.

“First it was broadband, now its opioid funding,” Bloom said. “All county commissions are dealing with that. I think that’s a concern that you brought up and I’m sure, you can look at several of the other commissioners shaking their heads. ”

After the meeting, Bloom echoed Morrisey and said electing the board is only the first step.

“There’s an expertise committee, and another regional committee, which we have no idea how to set that up yet or what we’re doing,” Bloom said. “I am just glad that this is over.”

On the agenda for Thursday’s meeting was also a discussion regarding best practices for the board. As in Region Five the previous day, the elected officials voted unanimously to require that the by-laws of the West Virginia First Foundation require all board meetings be conducted in compliance with the Open Meetings Act.

“We made it very clear that Region Five, Region Four are adamant, unanimously that these meetings need to be open, so everyone understands how the process is, where the money’s going, and how it’s going to be spent,” Bloom said. “We’re very worried. We don’t want to see a continuance of what happened with the tobacco, we don’t want to continue to what’s going on with broadband.”

Bloom says the region will submit the names of the other candidates to Gov. Jim Justice to be considered for his five appointments to the board.

No selections have been made by the executive office, according to the latest report from Justice’s office. It is not clear what will happen if Justice’s selections are not made clear by the Monday, July 17 deadline. The governor’s selections are subject to confirmation by the Senate.

According to Morrisey’s Press Secretary, John Mangalonzo, the regional selections still have to be certified.

“Keep in mind that an accounting firm has seven days from the date of the election to certify the votes and submit the certified results to the AG’s and governor’s offices,” Mangalonzo said in an email.

Region 1: Steven Corder
Region 2: Tim Czaja
Region 3: Parkersburg Mayor Tom Joyce
Region 4: Jonathan Board
Region 5: Dr. Matthew Christiansen
Region 6: Dr. Tony Kelly

Justice’s office did not respond to a request for comment at the time of publishing.

State BOE Adjusts Teacher Licensing Requirements, Lifts Lincoln State Of Emergency

The West Virginia Board of Education (BOE) waived some of the minimum professional licensing requirements for prospective teachers Wednesday to help them eventually become fully licensed and enter the workforce.

The waivers adjust some of the minimum requirements in current BOE policy – specifically with regards to Policy 5202, which outlines said requirements for licensure, and Policy 5100, which outlines the process for educator preparation program approval.

It allows student and resident teachers who haven’t scored high enough on their content praxis exams to work in a supervised placement. The teachers must still maintain a minimum grade point average and attempt the exam at least twice.

Office of Certification director Robert Hagerman says the idea is to allow those who might be struggling with the exams more time.

“We’re giving these individuals the ability to be in the classroom while they’re honing their skills, to be able to acquire additional skills to be successful in completing those requirements, or demonstrate those requirements in a different way with those multiple measures,” Hagerman said.

If they’re unable to pass the content exam during the placement, teachers can still work under a temporary license. They would have to pass either the exam or their teacher performance assessment by the end of the year to make it permanent.

Also addressed during the meeting was the state of Lincoln County Schools, with the BOE moving to remove the state of emergency in the county.

The board initially issued a state of emergency in November 2020, and has extended it three times, most recently in July of 2022. An initial review found students were below average in math and reading.

The state of emergency was lifted after a progress report and recommendation from Matt Hicks, the West Virginia Department of Education’s Director of Accountability.

“It’s not time to get complacent for Lincoln County,” Hicks said. “The focus on academic achievement still needs to be at the forefront of all decision making in Lincoln County Schools. They’ve been doing a nice job addressing academic achievement but they still have a very long way to go. I don’t want this presentation to state that they are exactly where they need to be.”

He cited the creation of a curriculum team and instructional coach positions, protocols for new Individualized Education Programs, addressing short-term facilities needs like the replacement of HVAC systems, and long-term projects like the construction of a new school in the Duval area as reasons for the status to be lifted.

Alongside the Lincoln County update, the BOE also heard a report on the Clay County Board of Education. This followed a special circumstance review of the agency after the contract with the county’s former superintendent was terminated. Nine findings and three noncompliances were discovered, according to the report.