EDA Awards Grant to Community Affected by Floods

WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS, W.Va. (WOAY) – Two years after the devastating Lewisburg area floods in Senator Shelley Capito helped them take another step towards recovery.

“To have a great manufacturing facility here, you’ve got to have access to electricity and water,” said Capito. “This brings water here. It also brings water to residents. It also brings water to Greenbrier State Park and into the [town] of Caldwell as well.”

The United States EDA is awarding over $1 million to White Sulphur Springs to extend water service to residential areas, the Greenbrier State Park, and an industrial park that will soon be the site of the new WV Great Barrel Company.

The area currently has no access to water. A new water main would allow economic growth in the community and help further their flood recovery.

“When something like this sort of arises from the devastation of this, I think it reminds you that people haven’t forgotten,” said Capito.

For an area that may have been feeling down for a long time, things finally seem to be looking up.

“Private companies are investing in White Sulfur Springs and people are buying buildings and moving businesses into town,” said Tom Crabtree, representing the WV Great Barrel Company.

“Certainly families that lost property and loved ones–I don’t think you do recover from that,” said Capito. “But, to see your community that you love rebound and get better–that, I think, is a very forward thinking way to think about what has happened as a tragedy, turning it into something that has made it better.”

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Kassie Simmons
Kassie Simmons joined the team in January 2019 as a weekend journalist. She graduated from Virginia Tech in just two and a half years with a BA in multimedia journalism. During her short time at Virginia Tech, she served as the editor for the university’s chapter of The Tab. Kassie was named the top reporter for The Tab at Virginia Tech on multiple occasions and made the list for the top 30 reporters for The Tab in the U.S. She also studied theater performance and minored in creative writing. Before coming to WOAY, Kassie interned at WSLS in Roanoke and the Tidewater Review in her hometown of West Point, Va. She has loved following breaking news since her childhood and has a passion for delivering the stories people care most about. Kassie is excited to be working in Southern West Virginia and looks forward to all the adventures ahead of her. You can follow her on Twitter at @KassieLSimmons and like her page on Facebook. If you have a story you think she should check out, send her an email at ksimmons@woay.com.