Ebb and Flow: Flood symposium hopes to kickstart new West Virginia protection plan

State and native officers throughout West Virginia gathered Wednesday in Charleston for a two-day flood symposium to replace the 2004 statewide flood safety plan. (Photograph by Steven Allen Adams)

CHARLESTON — A gaggle of consultants wish to attempt to kick-start an replace to West Virginia’s almost 20-year-old flood safety plan whereas cash begins to rain down on the state for mitigation tasks.

The Pew Charitable Trusts, New Orleans-based catastrophe restoration and mitigation firm SBP, and the State Resiliency Workplace sponsored a two-day flood symposium on the Charleston Coliseum and Conference Middle starting Wednesday.

Greater than 80 registrants representing state, county, and metropolis officers have been slated to take part within the two-day occasion. The symposium’s objective is to put the groundwork for updating the state’s flood safety plan, an 11-page doc first accomplished in 2004.

Work on the plan took six years, starting beneath former governors Cecil Underwood and Bob Smart between 1998 and 2004. There have been 16 federal catastrophe declarations for flood occasions in West Virginia between 1996 and 2004, an eight-year interval. However since 2005, the variety of federal catastrophe declarations, not counting COVID-19 and the 2014 chemical spill in Charleston, rose to 27 occasions over a 17-year interval.

Bob Martin, director of the State Resiliency Workplace since Could of final yr, mentioned there have been many good concepts within the earlier 2004 flood safety plan. A part of the objective of the symposium will probably be figuring out what has been applied, what must be applied, and what wants up to date.

State Sens. Chandler Swope and Stephen Baldwin, members of the West Virginia Legislature’s Joint Legislative Committee on Flooding, briefed symposium attendees on the state’s progress for the reason that 2016 floods. (Photograph by Steven Allen Adams)

Talking Wednesday morning previous to the beginning of the symposium, Martin mentioned it gained’t take the six years it took for the earlier plan to be developed; that state and native planners can construct on the work of the earlier plan.

“This would be the first step,” Martin mentioned. “The groundwork, the bottom for this, is already in place. Now we simply must do is admittedly tweak it and convey it updated with trendy know-how … what they’re capable of do at present in comparison with what they might have accomplished 18 or 20 years in the past are vastly totally different.”

Martin is the second director for the State Resiliency Workplace within the almost two years the company has existed. The State Resiliency Workplace was created by laws drafted by the Joint Legislative Committee on Flooding, shaped to handle points that arose after the 2016 floods in southern and central West Virginia. The workplace solutions on to Gov. Jim Justice.

Flood Committee Co-Chairman Chandler Swope, R-Mercer, and committee member and Senate Minority Chief Stephen Baldwin, D-Greenbrier, briefed attendees on the historical past and progress of the Flood Committee and the State Resiliency Board.

“I assume the definition of a resiliency plan is to place an ordinary working guide along with state and federal businesses, so all people is aware of what they’re presupposed to do and what their relationship with all the opposite businesses concerned,” Swope mentioned. “When you concentrate on that, that’s a frightening activity … however we’re going to maintain at it till we get it accomplished.”

“It isn’t a matter of if this occurs once more; it’s a matter of when this occurs once more, and I would like us to be ready,” Baldwin mentioned. “I do know all people right here desires us to be ready, and that’s why I admire your all’s professionalism and your experience a lot. I’m actually hopeful about this course of.”

Baldwin, whose dwelling county was one of many hardest hit throughout the 2016 floods, mentioned he and native emergency managers have been stunned to find there was a flood safety plan on the books.

“I feel it was two days after the floods struck that we discovered in that course of that there was a flood safety plan for the State of West Virginia,” Baldwin mentioned. “None of us knew something about it … it was infuriating, but it surely was additionally simply kind of disempowering. You had this sense that one thing might have been accomplished.”

In response to a report final October by the First Avenue Basis which research dangers from local weather change, 17 of the highest 20 U.S. counties most in danger from flooding are in Louisiana, Florida, West Virginia, and Kentucky. Matthew Sanders, a senior supervisor with the Pew Charitable Trusts, mentioned any plans have to do greater than anticipating at present’s dangers, however deal with projected dangers into the longer term.

“The information reveals West Virginia has one of many highest concentrations of residences in flood-prone areas in comparison with wherever within the nation,” mentioned Sanders, who manages Pew’s flood-prepared communities initiative. “That features a number of the locations that you’d generally affiliate with catastrophic floods. Locations like Florida, locations just like the Outer Banks in North Carolina, and locations like my dwelling state of Louisiana.”

The timing may not be higher for West Virginia. The state acquired the second half of the $1.35 billion in direct funding from the American Rescue Plan Act this week, which can be utilized for stormwater and watershed infrastructure tasks. Counties and cities acquired a mixed $679 million from ARPA, which can be utilized for infrastructure tasks, or be mixed with different counties/cities for regional tasks or with state ARPA {dollars}.

West Virginia is anticipated to obtain between $6 billion and $7 billion over the subsequent a number of years from the $1.2 trillion Infrastructure Funding and Jobs Act, a few of which can be utilized for flood mitigation and stormwater infrastructure tasks. For counties hit by the 2016 floods, neighborhood growth block grant funds for mitigation tasks stay. Some funding from the Federal Emergency Administration Company is obtainable. Plus, the state is anticipated to finish the fiscal yr in June with greater than $1 billion, with as a lot as $250 million anticipated to go to the overall income fund after surplus objects within the new fiscal yr 2023 funds are paid for.

The State Resiliency Workplace works with state businesses to make sure that elements of the state hit with pure disasters and man-made emergencies can bounce again shortly. It additionally manages non-federal catastrophe and hazard mitigation grant funding. The workplace is assisted by an advisory committee of state cupboard and constitutional workplaces in addition to different state businesses and legislative appointees.

Justice, talking final week after touring flood harm in downtown Huntington after greater than 4 inches of rain fell in a brief period of time within the Fourpole watershed the weekend of Could 6, known as for getting “all of the sensible folks collectively” to develop a flood mitigation plan. In written remarks despatched with Martin for the symposium, Justice mentioned he had religion within the symposium’s attendees to develop a brand new plan.

“Throughout this symposium, I do know that you just all will work collectively to develop plans to replace our 18-year-old flood safety plan. It’s apparent that West Virginia might use a little bit assist on the subject of flooding … I’ve religion that you’ll give you nice solutions on how we will use this time in our state to make a distinction and make some adjustments to guard future generations from these catastrophic flood occasions.”

The workplace continues to be within the strategy of group, with solely 4 everlasting employees members. Wednesday’s symposium was the primary time many county and metropolis officers have met face-to-face with Martin and State Resiliency Workplace employees for the reason that begin of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020 and since Martin took over the company from Bobby Cales, the workplace’s first director. Martin mentioned he hopes the subsequent two days can kick-start a lot wanted updates to the statewide flood safety plan.

“From this convention the place we’re at lastly at present — after COVID and all of the adjustments and delays that we needed to undergo – we lastly acquired to some extent the place now we have individuals right here to supply suggestions to what we wish to add to, or take away from, that plan and actually to get buy-in from all people,” Martin mentioned. “There is no such thing as a likelihood that we’re going to have the ability to do all this on our personal. Nobody company can do that. It must be a bunch effort.

Steve Adams might be reached at sadams@newsandsentinel.com.