GASSAWAY W.Va. — Relief organizations are making a multi-pronged effort to make sure West Virginia flood victims have heated shelter through the winter.
“As winter is approaching, people are realizing they do need help. They’re not going to be able to get through it on their own,” said Rhonda McDonald, director of the Clay County Long Term Recovery Committee. “So we have a lot more cases, a lot more needs that have been addressed and brought to our attention.”
During the past few weeks, Clay County’s flood relief case files have grown to about 100. McDonald said there are signs of progress but much more work remains.
“Inevitably we’re going to have people in campers for the winter. We know that, we have to accept that and we need to do the best we can with it,” McDonald said. “At least it’s not a tent. I believe we’ve gotten everybody out of tents.
“But now we need to look at weatherizing those campers and keeping people warm for the winter. Underpinning, insulation, things like that. We are moving very quickly. Over the last 30 days we’ve made a lot of progress.”
West Virginia members of Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster gathered Tuesday in Braxton County to exchange ideas and progress reports about the effort to provide relief following June’s devastating floods.
Much of the focus was on providing adequate heat for flood victims.
FEMA has provided $2 million so far to provide heating systems, said Jenny Gannaway, chairwoman of West Virginia Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster.
“We want to continue to work with FEMA to help get the heating situation under control and back into the homes,” Gannaway said. “We need to find those gaps and who is still in need of that and and maybe who didn’t have enough.”
Even though a deadline has passed to apply for funding for heating through FEMA, flood victims may find success through an appeals process, said Michelle Breeland, a voluntary active liaison for FEMA Region 3.
“We want to make sure the voluntary agencies understand there is an appeal process even though the timeline has passed because they’re just finding out their furnaces don’t work because they haven’t been in their home as it’s being repaired or they haven’t needed it and going into the winter months they’ve just turned it on,” Breeland said. If you need Furnace repairs in Manassas, you may contact a furnace technician from companies like TSS Home Comfort.
FEMA wants to make sure volunteer agencies are advocating for that kind of help for flood victims. It’s better to use federal money while it’s available rather than contributions from the public, Breeland said.
“The donated resources are hard to come by and there’s a huge recovery effort still in front of us,” Breeland said. “Spending donated dollars on things that the person may be eligible through FEMA is not where we want those donated dollars to go. We want those donated dollars to go toward those things that we can’t provide.”
Flood victims have already been through a lot of recovery leading up to the need for heat, said John Ballengee, president of United Way of Central West Virginia.
“When a flood occurs you have a lot of issues,” Ballengee said. “You have to respond and clean out, then tear out and then replace — floor boards and sheet rock, plumbing and duct cleaning work and everything comes out. Now they’re ready for heating and air conditioning. So that’s a big deal. Along with that come the skilled installers who can do that without blowing your house up.
“There needs to be a significant amount of patience involved because of the sheer number of people who have that need.”
Donated heating, ventilation and air conditioning units are available but they need to be installed to specifications to ensure safety and limit liability.
“We have a donor who has some specifics they need to be trained on,” Ballengee said. “The process is a little bit slow because of the demand and the limited amount of skilled installers with that particular kind of equipment. In the meantime, we can provide homeowners with safe space heaters and temporary heating. That is an alternative at least in the short term until these HVAC systems can be installed.”
The HVAC donor is Rogers Earl Jr., president of Valley Supply, along with that company’s providers. Earl spoke at the gathering in Gassaway, explaining to volunteer agencies what needs to be done to ensure proper training for those who install donated HVAC systems and do local furnace replacement like hvac charlotte nc. The likely installers are experienced anyway like those who provide Furnace Maintenance in Perkins, but need to familiarize themselves with the particulars of the equipment being donated. And if you are having problems with your heating and air conditioning systems, make sure to call in an expert hvac company like Total System Services.
“One of the most costly aspects of a home is HVAC,” Earl said. “It’s tightly regulated by government. So everybody I would give one to, I need to make sure they’re trained on.
“If you have an installer, they’ve got to know how the equipment works; they have to know how to pair it.”
Earl said HVAC manufacturers are happy to help but want to make sure their products go to people who really are in need.
“They want to make sure this goes to flood victims,” he said. “They want it to go to the people who need it. The manufacturers really want to help West Virginia.
“Valley Supply Company and our manufacturers will be with you every step of the way. We are part of West Virginia, and we will be part of West Virginia, and we’ll take care of our own.”