Recent Flood Articles

Disaster recovery leader says RISE West Virginia is ‘stagnant’

Clendenin’s main street as it looked two days after the flood. Shauna Johnson/WVMetroNews.com

By: Brad McElhinny | Posted: May 29, 2018 | Source: WV MetroNews

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Jack Lipphardt, director of West Virginia United Methodist Disaster Recovery, is frustrated by the pace of long-term flood recovery.

In mid-May, Lipphardt wrote a letter to Sen. Joe Manchin’s office, asking for assistance.

Jack Lipphardt

“I write to seek your help in moving WV RISE from its stagnant dormancy to the promises made to The United Methodist Church, partner ecumenical and secular bodies, funding partners, volunteer work team partners and especially to survivors of the disaster,” Lipphardt wrote.

The letter was sent right before it became public that Gov. Jim Justice’s administration had paused a contract with a consultant tasked with managing federal flood relief dollars. The administration was concerned the contract, worth up to $17 million, hadn’t gotten appropriate oversight.

But Lipphardt, like other close observers of West Virginia’s flood relief effort, says the flow of federal relief spending was slow even before that.

“We were told the first homes would be under construction in August of 2017. Then September. Then October,” Lipphardt wrote to Manchin.

By Feb. 5 this year, Lipphardt wrote, concerned groups gathered at the Clay County Courthouse. Concerns were raised about delays and “requirements that make no sense given West Virginia’s sociology and geography.”

At that meeting, he said, a representative of the West Virginia Development Office assured everyone that 50 houses would soon be under construction.

Lipphardt concluded, “To date, not one house has been constructed. Not one house has had construction to begin. Two mobile homes have been placed but neither are set up nor yet habitable.”

Lipphardt letter to Senator Joe Manchin

Contacted this Tuesday, Lipphardt said his concerns haven’t abated.

“We’ve been frustrated with them for quite some time,” he said. “We were excited a year ago.”

RISE West Virginia, in an official action plan and elsewhere, said it would assist up to 1,200 moderate- and low-income homeowners.

West Virginia had almost $150 million to put toward long-term recovery. The money was in the form of Community Development Block Grants for disaster recovery through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

That money is also meant to help West Virginia’s business and infrastructure rebuild over the long haul.

The official kickoff for RISE was last Aug. 2. “The funds from the RISE program will help West Virginians get back on their feet and on the path to recovery,” Governor Justice stated in a news release announcing the start of the program.

But more time passed.

West Virginia made its request to start using the money this past Jan. 29. HUD gave its OK on Feb. 20.

“The delays just kept coming, people tangled up in red tape,” Lipphardt said.

“It’s a real frustration. The clients are upset and angry. People like us with the United Methodist Church and others are really bothered by this.”

West Virginia is listed as a “slow spender” in the most recent grant financial report Housing and Urban Development.

That designation means spending less than 10 percent of monthly pace required to fully use the grant by target closeout date.

Of the $149,875,000 West Virginia has available, the state still has $148,736,333 left on hand.

The perceived availability of millions in federal dollars has meant that nonprofits avoided spending money that could instead be used elsewhere, Lipphardt said.

“We’ve been told ‘Don’t spend your money on things that RISE can take care of,’ but the result is, people are stuck,” he said.

Many of those who have applied have gotten tripped up by federal regulations, he said.

RISE has a 166-page guide to policies and procedures.

“I don’t know where the brokenness is, but obviously something is broken,” Lipphardt said.

The Department of Commerce manages the RISE West Virginia disaster recovery program through the West Virginia Development Office and West Virginia Community Advancement and Development Office.

The Department of Commerce has not yet responded to emerging complaints that progress has been slow.

Lipphardt suggests a point person who reports directly to the governor might be more effective: “Somebody who would walk into the governor’s office with muddy boots and say ‘Here’s what we’ve got to do to make this happen.’”

Roger Hanshaw

Delegate Roger Hanshaw, R-Clay, is one of the co-chairmen of a legislative committee meant to examine flood relief and prevention in West Virginia.

Hanshaw, too, has expressed frustrations about the pace of long-term relief.

“We’ve had duplication of services, we’ve had miscommunication, we’ve had breakdown of communication,” Hanshaw said today on MetroNews’ “Talkline.”

Hanshaw said West Virginia’s first response to the flood was good.

“But then there’s the second line of response, and that’s the response that goes on when the flood water goes down… and that’s where the real breakdown has been,” he said.

Flooding happens so often in West Virginia, the state has to get better at response, he said.

“Mistakes will happen. There will be breakdowns. That’s just the nature of a natural disaster,” he said. “Once the immediate urgency fades, we’ve got to get this stuff right. Paperwork glitches and administrative nightmares shouldn’t keep people from returning to normalcy.”

Brad McElhinny is the statewide correspondent for MetroNews. Brad is a Parkersburg native who spent more than 20 years at the Charleston Daily Mail. Contact him at brad.mcelhinny@wvmetronews.com or on Twitter @BradMcElhinny.

May 29, 2018 in 2016 FLOOD, Community News, Local News, Long Term Aftermath & Recovery, NEWS, Politics

Jack Lipphardt: RISE WV must help flood survivors (Gazette)

By: Jack Lipphardt | Posted: May 28, 2018 | Source: WV Gazette-Mail

WVUMC Disaster Recovery Team in Clendenin

Disaster Recovery team members of the West Virginia Conference of the United Methodist Church pause during work on Feb. 9 at a flood-affected home in Clendenin. Pictured from left are Construction Coordinator Buck Edwards, WVCUMC Director of Disaster Recovery the Rev. Jack Lipphardt, “A New Vision with Hope” Executive Director J.F. Lacaria, case managers Miranda Nabers and Grace Msisha and Construction Coordinator Chad Faris. Courtesy Photo

Thank you for your editorial Friday, May 25 regarding the failure of RISE West Virginia to keep its promises to survivors of the storms and flood disaster of June 23, 2016, as well as to the United Methodist Church of West Virginia and our ecumenical and secular partners.

I hope your essay helps in moving RISE West Virginia from its stagnant dormancy to the promises made. From increasing and more frustrating conversations with our disaster recovery partners, particularly those of us active with funding, volunteer work teams and disaster case management, I know the United Methodist Church is not alone having trusted what we were told by RISE West Virginia, West Virginia Development Office officials and the consulting firm of Horne LLC while disaster survivors have been told to wait — and wait.

We were thrilled to hear that the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, through the Community Development Block Grant program, would provide $104 million for disaster recovery. As news unfolded, the amount increased to $150 million.

It was a mystery to me why this important grant was lodged in the Development Office in the state’s Commerce Department, where there is no organizational motivation to address disaster recovery and no one with any experience or expertise in disaster response. The Resiliency Board is composed of eight people, but do any of them have any knowledge or experience in disaster recovery? Have they met?

At a meeting held June 15, 2017, at the Sports Performance Center at The Greenbrier resort, people from the Development Office and the consulting firm excitedly described the RISE West Virginia program and provided training for disaster case managers, including our United Methodist disaster case managers. They provided iPads programmed to provide easy intake for client referrals to RISE. At the meeting, we were given details of the grant and how it would be used.

Those of us present that day were told that 1,000 homes would be built in the 12-county disaster zone (80 percent in the counties of Greenbrier, Clay, Nicholas and Kanawha) in less than a year.

We were also told that RISE expected to serve 600 to 800 households. That math doesn’t work very well, but I report to you what we were told to indicate the magnitude and efficiency of work that was promised: 1,000 houses to be built, preferably by local construction contractors, in less than a year.

Numerous other details were provided, including Social Vulnerability Index priorities, single-family home construction or rehab, mobile-home replacement, elevation remediation, temporary rental assistance and flood insurance.

We were told the first houses would be under construction in August 2017. Then came the delay to September. Then October. Christmas passed with no RISE activity.

On Feb. 5 of this year, after numerous concerns were raised about RISE’s delays and requirements that make no sense, given West Virginia’s sociology and geography, a meeting was held at the Clay County Courthouse to discuss this. I attended, along with ecumenical and other partners, because we were being embarrassed by RISE, being caught in the web of RISE’s delays.

We further wanted to let the citizens who attended know what we were doing to assist recovery apart from and in spite of RISE. Representatives from the offices of Sen. Manchin, Sen. Capito, Congressman Mooney and FEMA were present. A staff member of the Development Office assured everyone present that, during that month, February, 50 homes would be under construction. When pressed about that number, he said that 30-some for sure would be under construction.

To date, not one house has had construction begin. I understand that two mobile homes have been placed, but are neither set up nor yet habitable.

In Roane County, I can point to three RISE applicants who are held up for unexplainable reasons, all three elderly women, two in their 70s and one 85. Ecumenical and voluntary organizations have been told by RISE West Virginia not to spend donated dollars on projects that RISE could take. This is a fast-growing immorality, as we see it, keeping people from recovery while HUD and RISE fool around with this.

One of my case managers has a large family whose house was destroyed in Kanawha County. The Elk River undercut the land where their home sat. Their lot stretches up the hill from the precise site of the former home. RISE West Virginia has told them it will not build unless it is on the exact previous site, which is now consumed by the reformed river’s edge.

With generous gifts from three Charleston United Methodist churches to fund their new house, and with help from our friends with Mennonite Disaster Services who will provide the labor to build it, we will see to their recovery.

Our other case manager has a person in Nicholas County whose house was destroyed by the flood but which now has mine drainage washing the site. As with the case above, a new house could be built on his land farther up the hill from the house that was destroyed, but RISE has disqualified him because he does not want to live in a house that RISE would build on the mine-drainage-affected former house footprint.

As I write this, the United Methodist Church has begun construction to care for this survivor and get him into a home on suitable land that is his.

Our United Methodist case managers have other clients who have been disqualified by RISE’s crippling rules or are caught in the unconscionable and strangling delays. To reiterate, we are not alone with this problem that is affecting ecumenical and secular partners, especially our survivor families.

The West Virginia United Methodist Church, our ecumenical partners and other volunteer organizations have been active since day one, from early response to recovery, and continue to move forward to help survivors move from untenable, dangerous situations into residences that are safe, secure and sanitary. We hope for the day when RISE West Virginia executes its promises.

Jack Lipphardt, mayor of Wheeling from 1992 to 2000, was senior pastor of Johnson Memorial United Methodist Church. After the June 2016 floods, he has been director of West Virginia United Methodist Disaster Recovery.

May 28, 2018 in 2016 FLOOD, Local News, Long Term Aftermath & Recovery, NEWS, Politics

Kanawha Board of Education moves ahead with Herbert Hoover demolition plan

By: Douglas Soule, Staff Writer | Posted: May 25, 2018 | Source: WV Gazette-Mail

The Kanawha County Board of Education voted during a Friday special session to remove a previous motion that required the West Virginia School Building Authority board’s approval for a contract to demolish Herbert Hoover High School.

“I think we need to go ahead and move forward with the demolition of Herbert Hoover,” Kanawha board member Ryan White said during the meeting.

The contract allotted $382,777 to Charleston-based Rodney Loftis & Son Contracting, even though a lower bid of $338,888 was offered by Baltimore- and Fairmont-based Reclaim Co. LLC.

As a result, Reclaim filed a protest against the county school board and the SBA, said Jim Withrow, general counsel for Kanawha schools.

On May 10, the school board voted to give Rodney Loftis & Son the demolition project, but added an amendment that required the SBA board to give approval to the contract, as well.

At the time, White said he didn’t know why the SBA staff recommended against Reclaim’s bid.

“Our thought process was their staff is not accountable to us, so let’s have our approval be contingent on [the SBA board’s] approval, because their staff is accountable to them,” White said.

On Monday, the SBA board members on the Construction Committee decided not to put a vote on the demolition contract approval on future agendas, and board Executive Director David Roach also said he would not put the matter on an agenda.

A bid tabulation sheet provided with the special meeting’s agenda said that Reclaim was “disqualified per SBA recommendation.”

Reclaim wrote “not applicable” on a form where bidders must list the subcontractors and equipment/material suppliers they plan to use for a project.

While Reclaim legal representatives said May 10 that the company didn’t plan to use any subcontractors, the form says that, “if no subcontractors will be used to complete the project, indicate on the SBA Form 123 that all work will be self-performed and provide the name and contractor license number of the contractor that will be performing the work.”

The form also says the “SBA shall be the sole interpreter of this document to ensure that the information provided by the prime contractor meets the intent of the form.”

An SBA official said Reclaim also submitted this form to only the county, not the SBA, despite the wording at the top that said the form “must be submitted to the SBA within two hours of the close of bid.”

The bid protest filed by Reclaim argues that the form sent to the county was forwarded to the SBA and that irregularities in the form should have been waived for the lowest contract bidder.

The demolition project will be paid for by the SBA and Federal Emergency Management Agency flood recovery funds, Withrow said.

May 25, 2018 in 2016 FLOOD, Community News, Education News, Local News, Long Term Aftermath & Recovery, NEWS, Politics

House Speaker calls for sped up school rebuilding from June 2016 flood

Tim Armstead – Staff photo by Rusty Marks

By: Jake Jarvis | Posted: May 25, 2018 | Source: WV News

CHARLESTON — House of Delegates Speaker Tim Armstead has called on state and local officials to speed up the process for rebuilding a handful of Kanawha County schools destroyed in the June 2016 flood.

In a letter dated Wednesday, Armstead, R-Kanawha, asked several officials to review the timeline for rebuilding the schools.

“As you are aware, students in this area have been through a tremendous ordeal, and it is essential that we provide them access to completed classrooms as soon as possible,” Armstead wrote.

Armstead sent the letter after hearing a presentation from the state School Building Authority during an interim meeting of the Joint Legislative Committee on Flooding earlier this week. He included a copy of part of the presentation in his letter.

The letter was addressed to a regional administrator for the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the state superintendent of schools, the executive director of the School Building Authority and the cabinet secretary for the state Department of Military Affairs and Public Safety.

“It is essential that we make every effort to complete these schools as soon as possible in order to eliminate any further negative impact on the education of our children due to the June 2016 flood event,” Armstead wrote. “I would also request that you notify my office if the Legislature can be of assistance in streamlining the process for completion on these buildings.”

The presentation addressed the new Clendenin-Bridge Elementary School and the new Herbert Hoover High School. The former is expected to be completed by the fall of 2020, the documents show, while the latter won’t be completed for another year.

“We totally agree, and we’ve been pushing since we got started to move these processes up,” said Ben Ashley, the SBA’s interim director of architectural services. “The problem we’re finding is, unlike a traditional SBA project, there are so many hoops you have to jump through.”

Ashley said the presentation Armstead referenced was actually the worst-case scenario of what could happen. He said the SBA didn’t want to provide an earlier estimate to lawmakers and then not deliver.

Besides needing to jump through federal hoops to work with FEMA, Ashley said there is a surprising new hoop the projects might have to get through. A certain kind of bat, called the Indiana bat, is endangered and has been spotted in the area.

Federal wildlife officials are going to complete a study to see if they are actually these type of endangered bats in the trees for the site construction. If they are present, Ashley explained, federal regulations will prevent crews from removing the trees between the months of March and November.

Besides bats, Ashley said the SBA would be doing everything in its power to streamline the process. But at the end of the day, the work can only be completed so fast.

Earlier this week, a handful of SBA members didn’t want to vote on awarding a contract to demolish the old Herbert Hoover High School, but Ashley said that shouldn’t slow down the process for building the new schools.

“We totally share their frustrations,” Ashley said. “While the public might be upset now, we’ve been upset for months and months trying to push this process forward.”

Jake Jarvis can be reached by phone at 304-935-0144, on Twitter at @NewsroomJake or by email at jjarvis@statejournal.com.

May 25, 2018 in 2016 FLOOD, Local News, Long Term Aftermath & Recovery, NEWS, Politics

Millions in flood relief money stuck in the government pipeline

By: Hoppy Kercheval | Posted: May 25, 2018 at 12:02 a.m. | Source: WV MetroNews

West Virginia was hit by one of the worst floods in the state’s history on June 23, 2016.  A series of intense thunderstorms turned normally placid creeks into raging rivers that killed 23 people and destroyed hundreds of homes and businesses in central and southeastern West Virginia.

First responders, the National Guard, volunteers from here and outside the state immediately provided aid and comfort to flood victims, cleaned up mud and debris and contributed money.

Governor Tomblin requested a disaster declaration and President Obama gave his approval within hours. The state’s Congressional delegation pushed for immediate and long-term help for our devastated state.

It was a horrific time but, as usual, West Virginians pulled together.  Collectively, the burden of those hit hardest was made bearable by the unconditional help provided by friends and strangers alike. However, nearly two years after the Great Flood, many West Virginians who lost their homes in the muddy waters are still waiting for the promised help to rebuild.

Congress allocated approximately $150 million for West Virginia flood recovery through the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development, a sprawling federal agency responsible for a wide range of housing, economic development and infrastructure programs. In this case, the money came via the federal Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) program.

The first grant award came in early 2017 and the second installment just a few months ago, but to date only a few million has been spent.

What happened?  That’s what a lot of people have been trying to find out.

One explanation is, well, that’s just how government works. It’s a bureaucracy and allocating that much money through various government agencies can be complicated and slow.

Also, there was an issue with how the state Department of Commerce, which is the state agency charged with managing the CDBG-DR money from HUD, handled the procurement of a contract with Horne LLP, a Mississippi company that specializes in accounting and business advisory services that help states navigate the vast federal bureaucracy in a disaster.

The Justice administration stopped any distribution of HUD money through the WV RISE housing program for nearly four months over the contract bidding concerns. The administration was worried that missteps in handling the HUD money could lead to the state ultimately losing funding. The last thing the Justice administration wanted was a repeat of how the state handled the broadband and router fiasco during the Obama stimulus era.

But now HUD has reportedly placed West Virginia on a “watch list” because of delays in getting the money into the pipeline to help people. HUD spokesman Brian Sullivan told our Brad McElhinny that the agency was taken aback when it learned the program was suspended.

“What I can tell you is we were surprised when we learned–and it was not from the state, but through other parties–that the state had suspended the program, at least temporarily,” Sullivan said. “People in the state of West Virginia are desperate to get their homes back. Suspending a program when so many people need housing recovery is a problem.”

These setbacks and miscues add insult to injury for West Virginians who lost everything in the flood. Reporters who have looked more deeply into the story have turned up a fair amount of the usual finger pointing as well as the search for a scapegoat. West Virginians deserve to know what has gone wrong and why.

In the meantime, however, the delays for the folks hardest hit by the flood must seem interminable, especially when they know that $150 million is stuck in the government pipeline.

The radio “dean” of West Virginia broadcasters, Hoppy Kercheval joined West Virginia Radio Corporation in 1976. Email hoppy@wvradio.com and follow @HoppyKercheval on Twitter.

May 25, 2018 in 2016 FLOOD, Community News, Local News, Long Term Aftermath & Recovery, NEWS, Politics

West Virginia Methodists help flood victims after state recovery program falls short

With a multi-million dollar state run program under heavy scrutiny, one local group has been stepping up since day one, helping families affected by the 2016 flood rebuild. (WCHS/WVAH)

By: Jessi Starkey | Posted: May 24, 2018 | Source: WCHSTV

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (WCHS/WVAH) — As the two-year anniversary of the deadly West Virginia flood approaches, many flood victims are still in need of assistance, and fingers are being pointed at the state capitol over who is responsible. (more…)

May 24, 2018 in 2016 FLOOD, Church News, Local News, Long Term Aftermath & Recovery, NEWS, Politics

2016 flood victims still looking for help from RISE West Virginia program


A disabled man in Fayette County said he has received no help from a multi-million dollar state run program that’s left him living in his storm damaged, flooded out mobile home nearly two years after deadly floods devastated West Virginia. (WCHS/WVAH)

By: Bob Aaron | Posted: May 24, 2018 | Source: WCHSTV

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (WCHS/WVAH) — A disabled man in Fayette County said he has received no help from a multi-million dollar state run program that’s left him living in his storm damaged, flooded out mobile home nearly two years after deadly floods devastated West Virginia.

“There ain’t a thing we can do. When you’re waiting on the government, it’s hurry up and wait,” disabled Meadow Bridge resident Randy Ayers said.

Ayers said he’s still waiting for help from the RISE West Virginia program after storms and flooding left his trailer with black mold issues, a floor that’s falling apart, a damaged roof, and electrical system.

He said RISE has told him they’re waiting to do an environmental inspection to determine if he should fix or replace the 55-year-old mobile home.

After an Eyewitness News report on the frustrations of 2016 flood victims, leaders of the West Virginia House and Senate are asking a legislative committee to review RISE, a program created to help flood victims obtain housing assistance.

Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-West Virginia) agrees there should be an investigation into the program.

“You know when you have money sitting there to the tune of 100s of millions of dollars, why is that money not getting to those folks. That is very frustrating,” Capito said.

Ayers said he asked for help after the June 2016 floods and again after another flood in June 2017. He’s still waiting for that help.

“They got control of the money but it ain’t going to the people that needs it,” Ayers said.

The program is administered by the West Virginia Development Office within the West Virginia Department of Commerce. RISE and related state officials have not responded to requests for an interview.

May 24, 2018 in 2016 FLOOD, Local News, Long Term Aftermath & Recovery, NEWS, Politics