CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin has sought an additional $310 million in flood relief for West Virginia through a disaster relief funding package that could be considered by Congress.
The amount Tomblin is requesting would be beyond what West Virginia already has requested from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
“(This is) to basically go back in and help some of these small communities for the things that were not covered. Being able to get people up out of the flood plane and so forth and businesses as well as individuals,” Tomblin told reporters Wednesday at the state Capitol.
MORE: Read Tomblin’s request to President Obama
Another letter supporting Tomblin’s request was sent by U.S. Senators Joe Manchin and Shelley Moore Capito, as well as Congressmen David McKinley, Alex Mooney and Evan Jenkins.
“I think it’s going to be a bipartisan support. Hopefully, it’ll bring some more money into West Virginia to help those that were affected in such a negative way by the flood,” Tomblin said.
“We have plenty of needs,” he said, referring to West Virginia’s damaged roads, river banks and schools.
Tomblin’s request, addressed to President Obama, notes that many of the West Virginia communities hit hardest by the flooding were already struggling economically.
“The recovery plan for West Virginia represents an atypical strategy,” Tomblin wrote. “It recognizes not only the unique challenges associated with rebuilding in an area that has limited develop-able land in a rural and mountainous region of Appalachia, but it also acknowledges that dramatically depressed conditions require us to reposition and reinvent these communities in a way that will make them sustainable for our citizens and give them hope of economic diversification and recovery.”
The letter by West Virginia’s congressional delegation noted, “This was one of the deadliest disasters our country has experienced this year, and we owe it to the memory of those that we lost to do everything in our power to ensure a tragedy like this never happens here again.”
Louisiana leaders have requested $2.8 billion in federal relief for that state, which was hit by its own devastating floods this summer.
A disaster relief package could be part of a government-wide temporary funding bill that would avert a government shutdown Oct. 1.
Any flood relief component could be considered after this year’s general election.