CHARLESTON, W.Va. –It’s been two months since flood waters devastated multiple counties in southern West Virginia.
The floodwaters killed two in McDowell County and caused damage throughout several counties, enough so to garner a federal disaster declaration.
FEMA reps have been hard at work getting in touch with affected residents and meeting all the needs possible. Affected residents in Logan, McDowell, Mercer, Mingo, Raleigh, Wayne, and Wyoming counties have been approved for Individual Assistance following the floods.
In addition, Boone, Greenbrier, Lincoln, Logan, McDowell, Mercer, Mingo, Monroe, Raleigh, Summers, Wayne, and Wyoming counties have been approved for Public Assistance.
FEMA has announced that they would be closing the Fort Gay, Logan, Princeton, and Welch disaster centers permanently, while the Beaver, Bradshaw, Pineville, and Williamson centers will remain open.
FEMA rep Mark O’Hanlan appeared on MetroNews Midday last week to talk about the changes. He says it’s all about getting help to the centers citizens are utilizing.
“We monitor the number of people that come into the centers to make sure our staff is where we need to be to meet the need, and we found a few centers that were not being visited very regularly and we found others that were getting a lot of visitor traffic,” O’Hanlan said.
“What we’re doing is reallocating our people so that we’re in the places where the individuals and households and survivors are coming to get help from FEMA,” O’Hanlan said.
While many of the southern West Virginia citizens who received damage during the floods have been in contact with FEMA reps, O’Hanlan acknowledges that some have likely tried to fix up their homes and property themselves, thinking it isn’t too difficult to tackle.
“The one thing we’ve learned about people in southern West Virginia and Appalachian communities is they’re very self-reliant, they’re very resiliant, the fix their own problems, they don’t look for anybody’s help,” O’Hanlan said.
O’Hanlan says despite the blue-colar mentality of many within the state, disasters like this often call for more than a just a couple of hands.
“Even the strongest person needs help sometimes, and that’s where we can come in and provide that little bit of help and to help someone figure out their recovery process,” O’Hanlan said.
He says when these affected citizens realize their need, they’ll be ready and waiting to come help.
“When those things happen, please come to the disaster center. Talk to us in person and let us know what you need. We can coordinate recourses with the county ” O’Hanlan said. “If we understand what people need, then we can figure out a solution with the county so that we can help those folks meet those needs when they say, ‘You know what, this is too big for me, let me get a little bit of help.”
Each disaster recovery center is open Monday through Saturday from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.
The deadline to apply for federal disaster relief is April 28.
You can call 1-800-621-FEMA or go online to disasterassistance.gov