The New Orleans Saints will be in West Virginia helping out after deadly floods ravaged the region where they hold training camp.
A news release says the Saints players and staff will be at Villa Park in White Sulphur Springs on Wednesday to help with flood relief. Their training camp begins nearby Thursday morning at The Greenbrier Sports Performance Center.
The June 23 floods killed 23 people and destroyed homes, businesses and infrastructure. Fifteen of the 23 killed were in the Greenbrier County, where the Saints will train for part of the summer.
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.
West Virginians who are out of work due to recent deadly floods are facing a deadline to apply for unemployment benefits.
The deadline to file a claim for employees or residents of Kanawha, Greenbrier and Nicholas counties is Wednesday.
Those in Clay, Fayette, Monroe, Roane, Summers, Pocahontas and Webster counties have until Friday.
People who live or work in Jackson and Lincoln counties have until Aug. 4.
The Disaster Unemployment Assistance offers benefits for people who are ineligible under the state’s regular unemployment insurance. Farmers, self-employed people and others may be eligible for the Disaster Unemployment Assistance.
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.
A month after the flood, businesses in the communities affected by the home are struggling. Some businesses in affected towns have reopened, but others…
A month after the flood, businesses in the communities affected by the home are struggling. Some businesses in affected towns have reopened, but others say they are closing their doors for good.
Along Route 60 in the small town of Crawley near Rupert, Tonya Henson says she’s closing her little roadside stand, called “Made By Me“. A Greenbrier County native who recently opened her own business- an artist’s shop that’s located in a small wooden cabin right off the highway. There, she’s been selling handmade jewelry, wind chimes, and bird baths.
Hanson makes money clips out of butter knives, bracelets out of spoons and elephants out of forks. She’s been making the gifts for about ten years. In 2014, after being laid off from two jobs, she decided to turn it into a career. She opened this roadside shop this past May.
“And it did great until the flood three weeks ago. And the flood wiped out cities and towns, so people really don’t have the money to buy bird baths. It’s not that they don’t have the money, it’s they don’t have a place to live. There’s more important things to think about right now.”
Hanson worries about her business staying afloat in the wake of June’s floods, and she’s not alone.
The West Virginia Department of Commerce says more than 1,000 businesses have filed for federal assistance.
But business owners like Hanson’s that have suffered economic injury as a result of high water can apply for a low interest loan through the Small Business Administration. The SBA offers Disaster Loans to homeowners, renters and business owners to help them rebuild after federal disasters.
This includes people who did not have flood insurance.
Still, for some people, like Hanson, even a low interest loan is a financial risk they can’t take right now.
“So, I’m gonna close the store, and for now I have to do something with a more solid income.”
For now, she’s going to try to sell her crafts at a store called Tiky Boo in Beckley.
She says West Virginians are tough, and she thinks the communities will find a way to rebuild. She might reopen her roadside shop, if things in Rainelle and Rupert pick back up.
House Speaker Tim Armstead is asking Governor Tomblin to consider offering state aid to small business owners who may need to rebuild, but Tomblin has said West Virginia’s economic climate may prevent the state from being able to provide much help. Without that help, it’s possible a number of businesses, like Hanson’s, may not reopen.
The deadline to apply for a Disaster Loan through the Small Business Administration is August 24th. These loans are different than the housing and needs assistance grants provided by FEMA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency. For more information about how to apply for assistance, visit WVFlood.com.
Residents of towns like Rainelle and White Sulphur Springs continue to gut their homes and clean up debris. Many residents are now moving on to the next…
Residents of towns like Rainelle and White Sulphur Springs continue to gut their homes and clean up debris. Many residents are now moving on to the next step: applying for assistance and then deciding on their next move.
The question is: will they stay and rebuild or go elsewhere?
Patrick Burns’ home on Mill Hill Road in White Sulphur Springs was severely damaged in the flood. He’s registered with Federal Emergency Management Agency and an inspector has been out to take a look at his home. But he says he’s still fighting his way through red tape.
“When he came up here, he was talking about the foundation of it. He said in FEMA’s view, the house is salvageable. But, I’m looking at it. This is twisted and the whole house is twisted,” said Burns. “My insurance company–who I have flood insurance with–the adjustor was real quick and a really good guy. But now we have to wait on an engineer to come look at the house.”
Individual grants from FEMA are capped at $33,000 per person. For most, that’s not enough to totally rebuild. But Burns says would like to stay in the same neighborhood. He just isn’t quite sure if he’ll be able to at all.
“We’re going to try to—probably—buy another house somewhere here out of the floodplain. If we can. But, the big thing is, I’m not sure it’s going to be possible because—I don’t know—I’ve heard reports that there are a hundred people looking for places to stay because they couldn’t live there,” said Burns.
While on the ground residents are focused on cleaning out the old and replacing it with new, State Police and the West Virginia National Guard continue a search for a final missing person. The hardest hit by flooding, 15 people died in Greenbrier County. The final missing person, reportedly a teenage girl, is presumed to be dead.
