W.Va. House Speaker Calls for a Review of Flood Protection Plan

West Virginia House Speaker Tim Armstead is urging state lawmakers to revisit a more than decade-old flood protection plan to find ways to avoid a repeat of the disaster that killed at least 23 people last month.

The Charleston Gazette-Mail reports Armstead released a statement Tuesday that he wants a “comprehensive review” of the plan to be a focus of study in interim legislative committee meetings.

Armstead’s statement follows a Sunday Gazette-Mail article that detailed how a multi-agency task force’s recommendations for a flood protection plan had not been acted upon ever since the plan was released in 2004.

The plan called for better management of flood-plain construction, improved flood warnings, tougher building codes and better public education efforts.