FAYETTE COUNTY, WV (WOAY) – Senators Brian Helton and Rollan Roberts held a Pax/Paint Creek Watershed planning meeting with federal, state, and county government stakeholders to address recent flooding there.
“We have continuing authorities that we can use,” said U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Community Planner Charles Goad. “We would look at the situation on the ground and see if any of our continued authorities could fix that problem and come up with some recommendations.”
It only takes six inches to knock you off your feet. So Fayette County Emergency Management urges Pax residents in the Paint Creek Watershed to ‘turn around and don’t drown’ amid the rising floodwater.
In cases of extreme flooding, WV Conservation works with various agencies to determine the extent of flood-related damage and to relieve stream blockages.
“Immediate flood response after a major declared event,” they said. “So we have that program. We used to have a program where we would go out and work on streams and identify projects, and we no longer have that. I’m sure we could probably provide some T&A sort of assistance working through this.”
Alpha Met Exclusive says they can’t commit to anything yet.
“But I do know that, typically, we offered places to store material, manpower, and that kind of stuff,” said AME’s Mark McCoy. “And when we’re working in the community, we have those facilities and manpower available. So, we look to see what we can do with the department and how we can be involved.”
According to the West Virginia Natural Resources Conservation Service, 250,000 acres is their max.
“Anything above that, you go through the planning effort,” Assistant State Conservationist Christi Hicks said. “Just based on some of our current kind of way that we’re doing things, those 10,000 acres of drainage area kind of falls within our budget that we could look at a planning effort. So I like the suggestion of trying to go out there and look as a group and see what is the best option for the community.”
From flood prevention to mitigation, the Pax/Paint Creek Watershed planning meeting discussed a plan to put forth…
“Begging for help for probably four or five years now,” said Fayette County Beautification Project Director Angela Gerald.
