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Southern W.Va To Benefit From Federal Flood Protection Funds

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Tuesday said it will commit $2,817,600 to help reduce flood risks throughout the Elkhorn Creek and Tug Fork River Watershed.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Tuesday said it will commit $2,817,600 to help reduce flood risks for communities throughout the Elkhorn Creek and Tug Fork River Watershed.

Elkhorn Creek is a 23.7-mile-long (38.1 km) tributary of the Tug Fork, belonging to the Ohio River and Mississippi River watersheds. It is located in McDowell and Mercer counties.

The portion of the Tug Fork watershed that lies within West Virginia drains lands in McDowell, Mingo, and Wayne counties, encompassing a 932 square mile area.

In recent years the state has been hit hard by serious flooding including dangerous flash floods that have resulted in the loss of life and property.

In July, Gov. Jim Justice declared a state of emergency for McDowell County after floods damaged more than 75 homes, 12 bridges and multiple roads.

U.S. Sens. Joe Manchin and Shelley Moore Capito, members of the Senate Appropriations Committee, said the USDA funding will bolster flood protection and increase the safety of the county’s residents.

The money, through the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), will be used to support the voluntary buyout, demolition and restoration of about 30 properties to restore natural floodplain conditions.

The West Virginia Flood Tool (WVFT) examined flood damage to 128 homes and buildings before recommending the buyout as the most cost effective solution.

The flood tool is an interactive web map application developed by the West Virginia GIS Technical Center. It provides public and official access to flood data about the degree of risk for an area or property.

Residents in the Elkhorn Creek/Tug Fork River Watershed are considered at higher risk of flood damage due to the concentration of real estate development in the floodplain.

Federal Disaster Assistance Requested For Communities Affected By Summer Floods

From July 12 to Aug. 15, the state received up to 200 percent of its normal precipitation and did not see one 24-hour period without rainfall.

From July 12 to Aug. 15, the state received up to 200 percent of its normal precipitation and did not see one 24-hour period without rainfall. This led to multiple flooding events across the state damaging homes, schools and businesses, washing out roadways, and miles of damaged or destroyed water and sewage lines.

In response, Gov. Jim Justice announced Friday that he has formally requested federal assistance for the damages.

“Due to the damages incurred by these communities in the wake of the wettest summer on record for West Virginia, supplementary federal assistance is necessary to ensure the protection of life, property, public health, and safety, and to avert the threat of further disaster,” Justice said. “I hope that President Biden and FEMA agree and approve our request quickly.”

Typical disaster declarations are specific to a singular flooding event, but the unique nature of the month-long flooding prompted state officials to request a singular flood designation for all the affected areas.

On July 14, Justice declared a State of Emergency for McDowell County due to significant flooding that damaged more than 75 homes, approximately a dozen bridges and numerous roads throughout the county.
On July 28, Justice declared a State of Emergency for Fayette, Greenbrier, Logan, McDowell, Mingo, and Wyoming counties after severe thunderstorms, heavy rains and high winds caused significant local flooding, downed trees, power outages, disruption to potable water systems, and road blockages.
On August 15, Justice declared a State of Emergency for Fayette and Kanawha counties due to significant flooding that damaged more than 100 homes, roads and bridges throughout the counties.

Justice requested that the federal government providePublic Assistance and certainIndividual Assistance programs to support the state’s response. In addition to addressing the damages and impact outlined in this request, West Virginia is managing eight open federally declared disasters.

The granting of a federal disaster declaration is contingent upon FEMA’s review and the President’s authorization. There are no time constraints once the request has been submitted to FEMA.

For more information on the disaster declaration process, please visitHow a Disaster Gets Declared orwww.fema.gov.

Deadline Extended For Eastern Kentucky Aid

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has extended the deadline for Eastern Kentucky residents to apply for aid from last July’s flooding.

The original deadline was about to expire, but at the request of the commonwealth, FEMA has extended the deadline to Oct. 28 for Eastern Kentucky homeowners and renters.

This declaration covers survivors in Breathitt, Clay, Floyd, Knott, Lee, Leslie, Letcher, Magoffin, Martin, Owsley, Perry, Pike and Whitley counties.

Kentuckians can apply for federal disaster assistance several ways:

Call the FEMA Helpline at 800-621-3362. Press 2 for Spanish. Press 3 for other languages. If you use a relay service such as video relay service (VRS) or captioned telephone service, give FEMA the number for that service.
Visit a FEMA disaster recovery center to apply. Find the nearest recovery center by visiting www.fema.gov/drc or by calling the FEMA Helpline.
Apply online by visiting, disasterAssistance.gov
Or use the FEMA mobile app. Open the FEMA app and select “Talk to FEMA in person.”

View below for an accessible video on how to apply for FEMA assistance:

FEMA Accessible: Three Ways to Register for FEMA Disaster Assistance

FEMA grants do not have to be repaid. The assistance is nontaxable and will not affect eligibility for social security, Medicaid or other benefits.

Flooding in the region lasted several days. On July 29, President Joe Biden declared the region a federal disaster. Thirty nine people died. An untold number of houses were damaged or destroyed.

W.Va. Among Most Flood Susceptible In Nation

Flooding in West Virginia is expected to only get worse in the future, according to Nicolas Zegre, WVU associate professor of Forest Hydrology. That was his message to the members of the Joint Legislative Committee on Flooding during Sunday’s interim meetings.

From January 2007, until March 2022 there were 1,683 floods throughout West Virginia. Since the 2016 flood, Zegre said the state has experienced 968 floods. On average, every county in the state has experienced 31 floods over the last 15 years. Those floods have taken 34 lives and caused in excess of $54 million in damage.

“It’s really important to recognize that this is just property damage,” Zegre said. “This doesn’t also consider a disruption to the economy through the disruptions of flooding.”

He noted that of those floods, 851 were riverine floods in the large river systems with 12 deaths and upwards of $19 million in property damage. Flash floods have accounted for 22 deaths and upwards of $35 million worth of damage.

“We really need to recognize that flash floods are West Virginia’s greatest hazards,” he said. “They represent nearly half of all floods, but 65 percent of fatalities and 65 percent of property damage.”

Zegre explained that the increase in floods is related to the relationship between air temperatures and water vapor. He said the state has increased its mean annual temperature by one degree Fahrenheit since pre-industrial days.

“This is unequivocally related to the increase of greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere,” he said. “With warmer temperatures, we have more evaporation coming from the land surface, principally from our forests that cover about 85 percent of the state. This means a small change in air temperature has a disproportionately large change in water vapor. A one degree change in air temperature translates to about 4 percent more water being stored in that atmosphere.”

He said the relationship between air temperature and water vapor means that extreme rainfall is increasing. A recent study published earlier this year showed that Huntington has some of the greatest increases in hourly rainfall and intensity in the United States. Rainfall since 1970 has increased by 28 percent in the city.

Zegre explained that the problem with this extreme rainfall is that flooding is only going to get worse in West Virginia. By 2050, in Kanawha County alone, it’s projected upwards of 5,000 properties are at risk of flooding. What this also means is that West Virginia has the highest flood vulnerability in the country, which is equal to Louisiana.

An analysis suggested 46 percent of the state’s roads are at risk for flooding, 57 percent of state fire stations, 56 percent of police stations, 38 percent of schools and 37 percent of commercial property.

Another speaker during the meeting was Carlos Castillo. He is the chief development officer and senior vice president for Tidal Basin Government Consulting and he was there to speak about ways to mitigate damage from flooding.

“There was a FEMA mitigation study from the National Institute for Building Sciences that came and said every dollar spent on mitigation resulted in $4 savings,” he said. “When it was more recently done in 2019, it came back as six to one. It doesn’t take into account the number of lives saved through mitigation.”

Castillo explained that there are millions of dollars available through the federal government to prepare for floods. Most of it requires a 25 percent match from the state, although some programs only require a 10 percent match.

Matthew Sanders, senior manager at the Pew Charitable Trusts gave the legislators an overview of the West Virginia Flood Symposium.

“Flooding is the costliest and most common natural hazard in the United States, costing the nation more than $1 trillion in damages and economic losses,” he said. “Since the year 2000, flood damages and losses affect every state in the United States. And in the last four years alone, all 50 states have been covered under a federal major disaster declaration.”

He further explained that West Virginia is one of, if not the most, flood prone states in the United States.

“You can see in terms of people that are exposed to flood risk, there’s a high concentration throughout Appalachia, and specifically here in West Virginia,” he said. “So it’s a place that we don’t think really receives enough attention on a national scale relative to the flood risks that you all face here.”

Experts Teach Residents To Save Personal Treasures After Flooding

The response to the devastating floods in Eastern Kentucky last month is ongoing, and efforts are now underway to save and restore household treasures.

Survivors of the flooding can learn how to save disaster-damaged household treasures from Heritage Emergency National Task Force experts visiting three local Disaster Recovery Centers.

Among the heirlooms that might be saved are photos, artwork, quilts, important documents and other keepsakes.

The experts will discuss how to handle, dry and clean these items, as well as personal safety during the cleaning process, setting priorities and treatment options.

Co-sponsored by FEMA and the Smithsonian Institution, the Heritage Emergency National Task Force is a partnership of 60 national service organizations and federal agencies. They protect cultural heritage from the damaging effects of natural disasters and other emergencies.

More Than $30 Million Already Spent In EKy Cleanup

Three weeks ago, eastern Kentucky was hit by devastating floods. The Federal Emergency Management Authority and the Small Business Administration are on the ground trying to help restore the hard hit region. At the same time, West Virginia has experienced one of the wettest summers on record and that has brought additional flooding with it.

News Director Eric Douglas spoke with Patrick Boland from FEMA and Laurie Dana from the SBA about what is going on in the region.

Douglas: Tell me what’s going on in eastern Kentucky right now.

Boland: We’re really in the recovery phase now from the flooding disaster July 28 and 29. FEMA has 800 people on the ground; we’ve got nine disaster recovery centers set up so that people can visit them in five of the affected counties. So we’re really doing everything we can to reach out to people. We have Disaster Survivor Assistance Teams composed of four to five individuals who are walking neighborhoods and trying to reach people who have not been able to have access or have been unable to get out of their homes. So we’re really focusing really hard on getting to everybody we can.

Dana: We’re here to help the folks that had flooding in their homes and businesses. Our heart goes out to everybody. And we really want to help make a difference and help them have a long term speedy recovery.

Douglas: FEMA is there for disaster relief, that sort of thing. Laurie, you’re with the SBA. You’re more looking at kind of getting businesses back up and running. And so how does that all work?

Dana: It’s homeowners and renters, businesses of all sizes and nonprofits. FEMA is here to get people safe and sanitary living conditions. SBA is here for long term recovery, to build back their homes, replace the contents of their homes, businesses. Even if they didn’t have physical damage, if they had financial losses, there’s assistance for them as well as being able to make repairs to their buildings and replace their assets, anything that was damaged by the floods. So it’s really a big partnership with FEMA and the SBA to help both short term recovery, as well as long term.

Boland: That’s a great way to put it. It’s a two part harmony, FEMA does disaster assistance to people. SBA is really capable of providing people the funding to do the longer term repairs, and to be able to afford it. They have longer term and greater benefits in terms of the most advantageous loans You can get up to $37,900 in assistance total, across all different types of assistance. And oftentimes, people with property losses have well exceeded that. In this case, no flood insurance for many, many of the people in this area. So they really need to have access to low interest loans at longer terms that will help them to rebuild their homes.

Dana: And it really is a very low interest rate; as low as 2.18 percent with terms up to 30 years, which helps make it a little more affordable to recover and for replacing the contents of your home. That’s a lot cheaper than the interest rate on a credit card.

Homeowners and renters can borrow up to $40,000 to replace the contents of their home and that includes automobiles, and then can borrow up to $200,000 to make their homes liveable. In addition, they can add up to 20 percent for mitigation, for things like sump pumps and retaining walls to help prevent further damage next time. If there’s ever a flood, God forbid there’s ever another flood, businesses can borrow up to $2 million to make repairs to their buildings, replace their inventory and assets. And as I mentioned before, businesses can also apply for working capital to help cover those financial losses.

Douglas: One of the rumbles I’ve heard is people complaining about FEMA: FEMA is not acting fast enough, FEMA denying claims. What is the process and why do people believe they’re being unfairly denied claims?

Boland: There is some misunderstanding out there. The process of applying for assistance requires providing documentation, identification, proof of residency. And in this situation, because of the size of the losses of some people, the documentation is not complete. When we cannot provide complete assistance immediately to people, we try to provide assistance for important needs, like rental assistance, other needs assistance for clothing, etc. And as we progress along here, we’re going to get more people’s claims completed. We’ve already distributed over $30 million in assistance to survivors in this particular disaster already. So it’s going to take time to work through the process.

Dana: Folks don’t have to wait for their insurance to settle to apply for a disaster loan. The faster they apply, the faster that SBA can help them. So we just really encourage people to go into the disaster recovery centers, talk to FEMA, talk to the SBA representatives, and get started on their recovery.

Douglas: What does somebody need to bring with them? What kind of documentation? Some of those people may have lost all their documentation in the flood. So how does all that work?

Boland: Get to a FEMA Disaster Recovery Center. At the centers we’ve established, the state of Kentucky is there to provide people replacement documents at no charge immediately. One is your proof of residency, right? An occupancy for your home that you live in. So you need government documents to do that. And these disaster recovery centers have that service right in there for people to take care of it at the time they visit.

Dana: The first step two is to register with FEMA. And FEMA refers you to the SBA to complete a disaster loan. We really encourage folks to do that, as part of that whole process, the eligibility for some FEMA assistance and other program assistance, as well as for disaster loans.

Douglas: There’s been some significant flooding here in Charleston. I don’t think it’s reached the level of federal disaster assistance. But how does that process work? What are what’s the process for elevating a local regional emergency into a federal emergency?

Boland: The governor of West Virginia has declared a state disaster for those two counties in particular. The governor can then turn around and request from the federal government to the president that a national disaster be declared. At that point a FEMA will go in and do an evaluation of the disaster, the scope on it, then the president would determine to issue the federal disaster and ?

Douglas: What are the criteria? Is it based on property damage? How is that determined?

Boland: Clearly, there’s individual losses. We can see homes and property. There’s also public assistance which is for damaged public property, roads and bridges and government buildings, and also nonprofits that have experienced losses for services of one kind or another. Those are the two categories: public assistance and individual assistance. And if those losses meet a certain threshold set by the government statutorily, at that point the federal government can declare national disaster.

Douglas: How long do you anticipate being in Eastern Kentucky?

Boland: FEMA is going to be here for quite some time. It’s usually years before a disaster recovery from this type of event takes place. So on the ground, we have disaster teams out, you know, in the field operating right now, that’s going to continue for months. The scope of it changes over time as the needs and the process changes. But the organization will be here and SBA will be with us throughout that entire period. So, there is a deadline to apply for assistance. It’s usually 60 days post-disaster. We will announce that deadline. It’ll be publicized.

Dana: We really encourage people to get their applications, register with FEMA and get their applications in as soon as possible to get started on that recovery. Don’t wait for a deadline. The sooner you get those applications in, the sooner we can help you. You can go to the disaster recovery center for FEMA and SBA and go to a business recovery center for SBA then apply online sba.gov. You can also call 800-659-2955 and have an application mailed to you.

Douglas: Laurie, you mentioned that even businesses outside of the disaster area who feel like they’ve lost income revenue because of the disaster can also apply for SBA assistance?

Dana: If you’re in West Virginia in the contiguous counties next to Kentucky, you can apply for working capital to help pay the bills, you would have been able to pay if the flooding hadn’t happened. So any of the contiguous counties around the declared counties are eligible.

Editor’s note: According to the governor’s office, Gov. Jim Justice has not determined whether to apply for federal disaster assistance in Kanawha and Fayette counties, pending more information.