The Federal Emergency Management Agency has done a good job so far getting in the field, inspecting damaged homes and quickly approving emergency housing funding for victims of the 2016 flood.
FEMA already has inspected about two-thirds of the properties where individuals applied for immediate help and approved $15 million in funding. Those approvals are then routed to the U.S. Treasury which issues the checks or makes direct deposits.
The agency had a couple of disaster-assistance centers open in the hardest-hit areas within a few days of the flood and now has eight operating. State agencies have teamed up to try to provide one-stop-shopping disaster relief at those locations.
The pace is a significant improvement from the aftermath of the 1985 flood when FEMA seemed glacial by comparison. A General Accounting Office report noted back then federal agencies “took an average of six weeks to complete the application process for initial public assistance”—way too long, FEMA’s own review concluded.
We often associate the federal government with bureaucracy and inefficiency, but so far FEMA has been a welcome and competent partner as West Virginia struggles to recover from its worst natural disaster in years.
FEMA Deputy Federal Coordinating Officer Bill Watrel, who is on the ground in West Virginia, cautions, however, that the housing dilemma is a particularly complicated issue, especially in our state.
“There is a lack of rental resources and housing options,” Watrel told me. “If you are near Charleston, it’s one thing, but if you are in a more rural area they may not have hotels, and then it becomes more problematic.”
“Our focus right now is to get the remaining people out of shelters and into some type of temporary situation—a hotel room or a rental,” Watrel said. “Going forward, we’re working with the state to look at the scope of the damage and we’re coming up with courses of action for individuals who cannot get back into their homes.”
FEMA initially estimated 1,500 homes were destroyed. Watrel said that number likely will fall because some homes will be repairable, but that still leaves hundreds of families looking for a place to settle.
One option is mobile or modular homes on commercial and private sites, but Watrel said that takes time. “It’s not something we can turn on immediately. That’s why we need short-term solutions.”
After the 1985 flood FEMA built 647 mobile home foundations, but only half of them were used. The GAO report chided FEMA for overestimating the need.
The focus throughout the process is keeping communities together.
“That’s a priority,” Watrel said. “In the short term, individuals or families may, as an option, stay in a hotel or rental that’s a little farther away from the community. But the long-term strategy is to move people back into their community.”
That’s a tough assignment. Some folks may not want to return to the scene of the devastation for fear it could happen again. Who could blame them? Others, however, will want to rebuild. It’s encouraging to know federal and state leaders want to be partners in that process.