MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – It took months and about $5 million to assemble Hazel’s House of Hope, a social service hub on Scott Avenue in Morgantown and in about 20 minutes a spring storm made the building uninhabitable.
But after days of work by Panhandle Restoration and March Weston, Morgantown Community Resources board member Mark Nessleroad said Thursday much work has been completed in a very short period of time.
“The good news is- through the efforts and the pulling of people from every direction and generosity of everybody involved a very substantial disaster has been turned around very quickly,” Nessleroad said.
Immediately after the storm things started to go right.
The Lytle Construction Corporation had 30,000-square feet of guaranteed roof repair on hand for another project and was able to get it to the Scott Avenue location. Professional roofers will start the roof repair work immediately. Then crews from March-Weston were able to install all 30,000-square feet and seal the building in 48-hours. Meanwhile, Panhandle Restoration has mobilized to begin lowering the moisture content in the building.
“March-Weston as community player here, what they did to step up to help us, they had 35 people onsite the next morning,” Nesselroad said.
Nessleroad said work in areas on the upper floors and more detailed work in other areas will continue, so service agencies should expect noise associated with construction.
Morgantown Community Resources has been approved for an earmark grant from U.S. Senator Shelley Moore-Capito for about $1 million and Nesselroad said they are working with her office.
“To see if there’s anything that can be expedited, because we’ll be able to do more with it while we have this group out here working and be more efficient,” Nesselroad said.
Officials from the National Weather Service surveyed the damage and determined the storm had straight line winds of up to 90-miles-per-hour, hail in some areas and left about one inch of rain.
“For a 3,000 pound air conditioner to go airborne 120-feet- the winds were pretty substantial,” Nesselroad said.
The majority of the loss will be covered by insurance.