CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Residents along the Texas and Louisiana gulf coast region are facing a massive task in rebuilding lives after Hurricane and Tropical Storm Harvey. Devastation is beyond anything comprehended as the storm was forecast for the Houston area and now the hard work of cleaning up and rebuilding will begin.
West Virginia residents can relate to the difficulties the victims of Harvey face in the months and years to come.
“It’s amazing how much recovery it’s going to take,” said Jenny Gannaway, Executive Director of West Virginia Voluntary Organizations in Disaster. “It’s going to have to be a collaborative effort of the whole community coming together and make this work and work efficiently.”
Gannaway and her organization are actively involved with similar national organizations to coordinate relief help for the victims of Harvey. Legions of volunteers will soon be needed.
“This moment they cannot take volunteers because they are still in recovery,” Gannaway explained. “But next week, next month and the months and years after that, they’re going to need all the volunteers they can get.”
West Virginia continues to recover from the 2016 flood which left widespread devastation on a scale which hadn’t been seen in many, many years. Help poured in from everywhere and VOAD was instrumental in directing those interested into places where they could do the most good. Therefore, many West Virginians have an idea of what Texas residents are facing, but Gannaway says this disaster dwarfs anything we’ve experienced.
“We wen though this last year and I look at their numbers. We have 9,013 people who registered for help with FEMA, in just one day they had 86,000 and the numbers are going higher,” she explained. “We had 12 counties and we were looking a three to five years of recovery in West Virginia. Down there they have more than 50 counties and that number is expected to grow. It wouldn’t surprise me if we’re talking about ten years down the road for recovery.”
West Virginia VOAD is directing anyone interested in offering their help to a similar national organization. They can register at hands.org to get assignments on helping with the Harvey recovery in Texas or Louisiana.