BUCKHANNON, W.Va. — Communities across Upshur and Lewis counties are getting a surge of volunteers and some municipal help to continue flood recovery and clean up.
In Buckhannon, city spokesman Randy Sanders said councilors have voted to waive building permit fees during a special meeting Thursday morning. As long as the flood can be identified as the cause, the city will waive all fees for reconstruction and repairs to structures.
“We will work closely with the residents in need with our building enforcement officer, who will go out and work with our residents to get the permit process expedited,” Sanders said. “We will waive the fees connected with it.”
The city has around 3,000 structures, and about 1/3 suffered some kind of damage. Volunteers or groups of volunteers are asked to coordinate their arrival with the Upshur County Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management.
“Volunteers and experienced workers, and for folks that just want to help mud clean out a basement,” Sanders said. “We’re matching them up with the over 1,000 registered reports we’ve received from property owners saying they need help.”
Over the next several days West Virginia Wesleyan will be phased out as a disaster relief center in order to prepare for the arrival of students. Sanders said once that is phased, they’ll begin distributing to groups and organizations that will then make the supplies available in their portion of the disaster area.
“They can then distribute to their own communities, the communities they know better than anyone,” Sanders said. “It can be a church, a community center, or a volunteer fire department.”
In Lewis County, State Senator Ben Queen, R-Harrison, said the West Virginia National Guard and the state Division of Highways will likely remove 1,000 tons of debris on Thursday alone, and those efforts will continue. Queen said the disaster workers are now prepared to move out into areas of the county where there may be more damage or people that need help.
We’re going to have to continue to meet people where they are, and that might mean going to them if they have lost transportation,” Queen said. “But housing is our next step—people have to have a safe place to live.”
In addition to the Red Cross and labor unions, Queen said volunteer groups from all over the country are on the ground working to help the residents. Queen said additional volunteers will be needed in the coming days and weeks to address the requests for help.
“Samaritan’s Purse is here, and we just loaded them up with another 15 projects this morning,” Queen said. “I think they just reported more than 70 volunteers.”