WV Flood Twitter image.
CHARLESTON, W. Va.–As the year comes to an end, West Virginia has finally nearly completed the work of providing homes for people who were washed out during the catastrophic flood of 2016.
Completion would be a milestone capping off years of work and controversy over the homes that were promised to flooded West Virginians.
Through November, contractors for the state had completed 90 percent of the housing projects along with almost 80 percent of the restoration of washed out bridges, said Jennifer Ferrell, director of community advancement for the Department of Commerce.
Overall, 350 housing projects and 42 bridges have been completed, she told lawmakers during an interim meeting of the Joint Legislative Committee on Flooding. For the homes, that work has mostly meant reconstruction or, in many cases, replacement with a mobile home.
And $82,436,384 in federal funds have been spent on the work.
The pace of housing restoration has been steady in recent months.
The state said 279 active cases remained in March 2020. There were 102 in April 2021. By this past August, there were 61.
And by this past November, there were 37 remaining.
The state received the go-ahead in February 2018 from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to proceed with the work of restoring people’s homes.
The flood committee was established to oversee recovery efforts as well as to explore ways to mitigate future disasters. The pace of restoring housing has been a regular area of inquiry for the committee over the years, with both interest and frustration.
The officials overseeing the flood recovery efforts have often noted the effort requires compliance with federal regulations as well as steps to assure restored homes aren’t just placed back in harm’s way.