Members of the Joint Legislative Committee on Flooding were updated on the state’s response to flooding events over the last several months on Sunday afternoon, which marked the beginning of September Legislative interim meetings at the State Capitol.
West Virginia Emergency Management Division Director Matthew Blackwood informed lawmakers that major flooding events in mid-June, July, and mid-August have necessitated continuous state and federal coordination.
“It’s been a busy summer unfortunately. We’ve had storm after storm, but we’ve had kind of three major events,” Blackwood said.
According to Blackwood, West Virginia is still awaiting approval of a federal disaster declaration for the flooding that impacted Fayette, Harrison and Kanawha counties the weekend of Aug. 15-18. To date, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has paid out more than $13 million in individual assistance for those affected by flooding and tornado damage that hit Lewis, Pleasants, Ritchie and Upshur counties in July. The state is also appealing the denial of individual assistance and hazard mitigation requests for flooding that hit Boone and Logan counties in June.
Blackwood told lawmakers that state emergency managers are preparing for changes in aid being made by new FEMA Administrator Cameron Hamilton and Department of Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullen, though the specifics of those changes remain unclear.
“We have been taking steps to better understand what the potential changes are that are coming to FEMA,” Blackwood said. “I can say that there is more that we do not know than that we know. And to be clear, no state knows all of the changes that might be coming. We are taking a range of steps to ensure that we remain best positioned to respond.”
