Tom Crabtree joins @HoppyKercheval to talk about White Sulphur Springs’ recovery over the past year. WATCH: https://t.co/wkudfIAoe1 pic.twitter.com/5oY1f7z6dU
— MetroNews (@WVMetroNews) July 3, 2017
WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS, W.Va. — More than a year ago, Tom Crabtree was driving through White Sulphur Springs with other residents examining the impact of the June 23, 2016 flood that swept through the region.
He said he remembers seeing homes wiped from their foundations following eight feet of water flowing at 60 miles per hour.
“We realized there was a strong need for a new neighborhood,” Crabtree said on Monday’s MetroNews “Talkline.”
“It was clear that we needed an alternative to rebuilding those most dangerous locations. The families came to us and said, ‘We can’t live there again.'”
On June 24, 2016 — a day after the storm killed eight people and left others homeless in the community — Crabtree and a group of others formed Hope Village Housing Development to create a new neighborhood where flooding would be less likely to happen.
Crabtree said volunteers found land a mile from White Sulphur Springs that was city property. The group made a $1 offer, a deal that was approved by the West Virginia Attorney General’s Office.
“Mayor (Lloyd) Haynes said, ‘Tom, we won’t take the dollar,'” Crabtree recalled. “That was sort of the beginning. That gave us some immediate momentum.”
Crabtree, the owner of 50 East Casual Dining & Spirits restaurant, said every project in making the community on the 8 1/2-acre lot was accomplished by volunteers.
“We started out thinking we would do modular construction,” Crabtree said regarding the houses. “Then the Mennonites step up out of nowhere. They walked into our office and said, ‘We’d like to talk to you about building these homes.'”
The Mennonite Disaster Service spent 11 months in Greenbrier County building homes for those in need.
According to Crabtree, people were allowed to trade their damaged homes for new buildings on the site.
“It really has been a journey,” he said. “I see (the families) every day. They still are very emotional and still miss the loved ones that are lost, but there’s also great joy right now.”