Recent Flood Articles

Susan Jack, director of the Greater Kanawha Long-term Recovery Committee, talks with volunteers on a job in Clendenin last year. The committee is phasing out when it runs out of money within a few weeks and Jack will work for a Christian mission organization. Kenny Kemp | Gazette-Mail file photo

By: Lori Kersey, Staff Writer | Posted: June 19, 2018 | Source: WV Gazette-Mail

George Lesson, Jr., of Elkview, stands by the door of his trailer, which was severely damaged by the June 2016 flood. After he denied a new trailer from RISE, he’s been working to repair the old one. Gazette photo.

By: Lori Kersey, Staff Writer | Posted: June 16, 2018 | Source: WV Gazette-Mail

By: Brad McElhinny | Posted: June 15, 2018 | Source: WV MetroNews

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Gov. Jim Justice has called a news conference for Friday morning about long-term flood relief.

The governor’s press conference is to start at 9 a.m. Friday. He and Gen. James Hoyer of the West Virginia National Guard had said last week that they would likely provide a Friday update on the RISE flood recovery program.

Controversy has stirred over the past month over…

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West Virginia Governor Jim Justice requested and received the resignation of Commerce Secretary Woody Thrasher, a news release confirms. (WCHS/WVAH)

By: Anna Taylor | Posted: June 14, 2018 | Source: WVAH

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (WCHS/WVAH) — West Virginia Governor Jim Justice requested and received the resignation of Commerce Secretary Woody Thrasher Thursday, a news release confirms.

“I consider Woody a friend, and he’s done a solid job in the area of economic development,” Justice said in the release. “Thrasher expressed to me that recent media attention had distracted from what he believed was his core mission, economic development and business opportunities for West Virginia.”

Justice added that he hopes the resignation allows the state to turn its attention to the full recovery of all of the 2016 flood victims. The governor had announced earlier in the month that a restructuring of the Commerce Department, including terminations, would happen. He also turned RISE WV flood recovery efforts over to the state’s top military officer, West Virginia National Guard Adjutant General James Hoyer.

Justice called it inexcusable that the people hit by the flood of June 2016 are still waiting for assistance.

Justice said he identified a problem with a change order to Horne LLP, the contractor hired to help with the RISE West Virginia program. Justice said he canceled a $17 million change order which would have benefited Horne. Instead, Justice said the contractor will now be paid between $9 million and $10 million, with $7 million to $8 million funneling back into flood relief.

In the release Thursday, Thrasher released a statement, saying he accepted the appointment of Commerce Secretary “because of my love for the state, and because of Governor Justice’s vision that West Virginia and its citizens should not settle for 50th.”

“I want the governor and this state to be successful, and I welcome the opportunity to help any way I can in the future,” Thrasher said.

By: Alyssa Meisner | Posted: June 13, 2018 at 5:38 p.m. | Source: WOWKTV

CLENDENIN, WV (WOWK) – The Town of Clendenin is having big problems getting projects done to repair damage from the 2016 floods. Mayor Clendenin says she’s been reaching out to the state for months to get help, but her requests have fallen on deaf ears.

Clendenin’s Town Hall and Community Center may look fine, but there is still major work to be done.

“The work has been completed to the point that we can complete it, at this point. But going back to the original disaster and the original state of the buildings, there are some issues that need to be addressed,” Mayor Shana Clendenin told 13 News.

Clendenin was elected in July 2017 and by October she started realizing…

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By: Brad McElhinny | Posted: June 13, 2018 at 5:23 p.m. | Source: WV MetroNews

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — An internal memo from the state Department of Commerce contends this spring’s pause on a long-term flood relief contract had significant effects on the effort.

The pause affected progress for homes where construction had started, delayed ceremonies for applicants who were set to sign on as homeowners and slowed down environmental reviews that were part of the recovery process, Commerce contended.

The pause also threw construction workers into uncertainty and potentially risked sacrificing the millions of dollars administered by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Commerce concluded.

Brian Abraham, the senior counsel for the Governor’s Office, called after this story first posted to publicly question the intent of the memo. He contended it was…

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By: Brad McElhinny | Posted: June 10, 2018 at 9:08 p.m. | Source: WV MetroNews

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Gov. Jim Justice says there was no way to know until recently that West Virginia’s pace of administering long-term relief funding was far slower than people’s expectations.

“If I would have known that the guy in Clendenin was going to the bathroom in the port-a-potty every day and there really wasn’t anybody there to help him, but if I would have been sitting on the top of the dome 24-7, I wouldn’t have known about the guy in Clendenin,” the governor said at a news conference last Wednesday.

“Because to be just as honest as I know how to be, from the standpoint of even the Guard, from the standpoint of all the king’s horses and all the king’s men in my office, from the standpoint of other legislators, there was no antennas up anywhere. Nobody, nobody was screaming from the mountaintops that there was a problem anywhere.”

But victims of West Virginia’s devastating 2016 floods have been…

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