About three weeks after June’s historic flooding, Governor Earl Ray Tomblin appointed Major General James Hoyer of the West Virginia National Guard as Chief Recovery Coordinator – tasked with building a team of volunteers to lead flood recovery efforts in southeastern West Virginia. Hoyer asked state Senator John Unger to be one of those team members.
Unger is a Democrat from Berkeley County and is no stranger to flood relief – having worked in recovery efforts abroad in Kolkata, India with Mother Teresa, in both Gulf Wars, and in southern West Virginia.
Hoyer asked Unger to spearhead an initiative to help the twelve heaviest affected counties form “Long-term Recovery Committees.” West Virginia Public Broadcasting sat down with Unger and brings us this report.
What are these “Long-Term Recovery Committees?”
A community committee put in place for the long-term to help the flood affected areas in West Virginia get back on their feet and rebuild.
They’re made up of non-government organizations; faith groups, private sector businesses, volunteers, etc. to help provide labor, materials, or money to the cause – mostly through donations or fundraisers.
How many LTRCs?
There will be a total of 8. So far:
Greater Greenbrier – consists of Greenbrier, Monroe, and Pocahontas Counties
In this special television broadcast of Inside Appalachia with host Jessica Lilly, WVPB brings you the stories of heroism and survival in towns like Richwood, Rainelle, and Clendenin. Residents and community leaders share their stories of loss and resilience.
The National Weather Service called the June 2016 flooding in southern West Virginia an exceptional meteorological event, a vicious line-up of storms that came in simultaneously from multiple directions.
Almost 8 inches of rain fell in some spots in just 12 to 18 hours. That amount of rain in such a short time period is something expected once in 1,000 years, according to the NWS.
The area damaged in southern West Virginia is unprecedented.
West Virginia Public Broadcasting reporters fan out throughout southern West Virginia, assessing the damage, following recovery efforts, and documenting the monumental task of cleaning-up. http://video.wvpublic.org/video/2365823462
Listen to interviews of volunteers who felt compelled to gather needed supplies, and come help.
The program features behavioral health specialists discussing help available for dealing with trauma from natural disasters. The broadcast also examines the state’s plan forward to rebuild these devastated communities with a conversation with Adjunct General, Major General James Hoyer of the WV National Guard, now Chief Recovery Coordinator, appointed by Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin.
NASCAR driver Denny Hamlin is heading to southern West Virginia to help out after deadly floods ravaged the region.
A news release from The Greenbrier resort says that on Thursday evening, Hamlin will hand out toys and school supplies to Greenbrier County students affected by the June 23 floods. He’ll be at the White Sulphur Springs train station.
Kyle Larson, who competes in NASCAR’s Sprint Cup Series, will accompany Hamlin on Thursday.
The floods killed 23 people and devastated homes, businesses and infrastructure. Greenbrier County accounted for 15 of the 23 deaths.
More than 1,000 homeowners in 12 counties are reporting they are in need of volunteer support as they try to clean up their homes and rebuild following historic June Flooding.
Hundreds if not thousands of volunteers have already donated their time to help, 200 of them through AmeriCorps, a national service organization.
In Greenbrier County at the Rupert Post Office parking lot, two AmeriCorps vans pull up- and about a dozen volunteers in Blue Shirts meet to plan for their day’s work.
These volunteers are helping FEMA– the federal emergency management agency– canvass areas affected by the floods- to make sure residents have applied for aid if they need it.
18-year-old Bryant McKeon says he graduated from high school early so he could join AmeriCorps. Before coming to West Virginia, he helped with other disasters in TX and Louisiana.
“But one thing that I’m seeing differently in WV is people are really coming together in a big way. You walk down main street in White Sulphur Springs, and there’s free food stands everywhere, and people are out there cooking on grills breakfast lunch and dinner. And that’s amazing. ”
McKeon’s team has helped register hundreds of Greenbrier County residents for FEMA assistance– capped at $33,000 per individual.
Credit WVPB/ Chuck Roberts
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Home in Richwood that had damage from high waters during flooding on June 23rd
Meanwhile, in Richwood in Nicholas County, an AmeriCorps team from Hoopa, California is standing outside a pink house with a sign out front that says “Angels Collected Here”. The woman who lives here has been staying out of town until her home is deemed safe to live in.
AmeriCorps team members here, including Erroll Rhoades, are wearing heavy duty gear-goggles, gloves, face mask and white Tyvek suits.
Credit WVPB/ Chuck Roberts
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Erroll Rhoades is an AmeriCorps volunteer from Hoopa, California
Rhoades says his team is inspecting and cleaning out the worst hit homes.
“Muck and gutting is when we go into the house and look for anything that’s damaged from the floods, debris, just anything that needs to be removed throughout the house,” Rhoades said.
Credit WVPB/ Chuck Roberts
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AmeriCorps volunteer prepare Shockwave spray to help disinfect a Richwood home that has mold growth after the flooding
This whole street was hit by mudslides following flooding on June 23rd and now, volunteers are not just assessing damage, but also looking for mold growth. Mold is increasingly becoming a major problem for homeowners impacted by high waters.
State health officials say living in homes with mold, especially black mold, can be dangerous; black mold spores could end up in a resident’s lungs, making it difficult to breath, damaging organs, sometimes even resulting in death.
Rhoades and his team go inside the home for about fifteen minutes, inspecting the basement, where there was the most water damage.
“There’s black mold growing on the base boards. And since it’s damp there’s also powdered mold growing. And that’s why we have to remove the carpet off the bottom stairs. And there’s still water, not a lot, but we’re gonna mop the floor and just be safe.”
So now they go back to scrape the walls and clean them. Then, they take spray cans full of Shockwave, a chemical solution that will kill any mold that’s already growing and prevent it from coming back.
Most of the 200 AmeriCorps serving in West Virginia are 18-24 years old. Some are native to the state, and some, like this team from California, come from very far away. This team has a unique story— it’s a tribal AmeriCorps team, and most of its members are part of the Native American Hoopa Valley Tribe.
Chandra Norton says their reservation community is small, and everyone knows each other- actually she says it feels a lot like Richwood.
“When we say we’re from California, they’re really excited, cause we traveled a long way. It took us five days worth of driving to get here. Then when we tell them we’re from a reservation, they tell us about their heritage and we get to tell them more about us and our program.”
Norton says she volunteered specifically to come out to West Virginia because she wanted to travel and do something different- meet people from a different culture now, while she’s young.
And she says, she knows what it’s like to lose your home, your possessions.
In 2013 she and her family lost everything in a house fire.
“Yeah I kind of reflect back on that…just cause I can understand the position they are in. I know that there’s hope for them. The building is gonna be hard, but I know that they’re gonna get through it.”
Norton’s team will be in Richwood helping through August 3rd. Then they’ll head back to California. Governor Tomblin has extended the state of emergency for all 12 counties declared federal disaster areas after the floods until August 22.
Volunteers are still needed to help flood victims rebuild. Visit VolunteerWV for more info on how to get involved in volunteer projects across West Virginia.
Governor Earl Ray Tomblin says it will be some time before the state has fully recovered after devastating floods in late June. He says he anticipates the damage to well-exceed $100 million.
Governor Tomblin held a press conference Wednesday to update the state on the status of recovery efforts in West Virginia.
Tomblin says 12 counties have been approved for FEMA assistance, and more than 7,000 residents have applied for individual assistance. FEMA has approved more than $28 million for individuals and households.
More than 3,300 visitors have stopped by at recovery centers. More than 400 disaster-related unemployment claims have been filed.
Roadways impacted by the flooding have reached about $55 million worth of damages.
“Obviously this, you know, as big as it is, it’s going to take some,” Tomblin said, “and you know, it will be expensive and ongoing for some time to handle all the cleanup of this event.”
Tomblin says he’s planning to schedule a special session sometime soon to see what the state Legislature can do to help in the relief efforts.
A sheriff says a body found in Greenbrier County over the weekend has been identified as a woman who had been missing following last month’s devastating floods.
Greenbrier County Sheriff Jan Cahill said Wednesday that one of two bodies found Saturday was positively identified as 33-year-old Nataysha Hughes of White Sulphur Springs.
Cahill says her body was found along property owned by The Greenbrier resort about a mile from her home.
The sheriff says the name of the other victim found Saturday hasn’t been confirmed by the state medical examiner’s office.
Greenbrier County was the hardest-hit from the June 23 floods. Authorities have said 14 people died and one person is missing and presumed dead. Statewide, 23 people were killed.
