RALEIGH COUNTY, WV (WOAY)- EOC officials are requesting residents fill out surveys, as our region is devastated by back-to-back storms and extensive flooding.
The data collected will help them learn about the extent of the damage and how to proceed.
“A lot of people do not want to report it; they’ll just report it to their insurance agent,” said
Raleigh County Emergency Services Emergency Planner Tabitha Horn. “We don’t get reports of it and then sometimes they’ll call in later and we’re like, ‘We don’t have a record of that.’ If the state declared it an emergency — they have that documentation to get help.”
Ensure you upload pictures to the damage disaster survey so EOC can see what they’re working with in terms of damage before they come down. Horn says it’s going to take some time for the state to process because they received so many reports.
“A lot of people are going to get anxious, ‘Why has nobody contacted me? Why has nobody been down here? Give us some time and we will get to you as soon as we can once the state filters out all those reported emergencies, they’ll start going around and doing their own damage assessment,” the Emergency Planner said. “Save the receipts. That way you have documentation of everything you have already done.”
Horn says so many areas were affected, including Raleigh County.
“We’ve had to do evacuations in some areas with the swift water rescue and just flooding in the general areas that usually get flooded,” she said. “But some of the surrounding counties were hit a little harder.”
Mother Nature hasn’t made up her mind yet, not giving anybody time to clean up from the previous storm.
“With all the snow buildup from that storm and heavy rain we got right after it caused a lot of that flooding, unstable ground for trees and debris, and rockslides and mudslides.”
EOC staff has been working numerous hours to make sure everyone gets the help they need. This disaster is challenging and frustrating.
“It’s your house, your home that you live in that you worked so hard to keep it,” said Horn. “And then something as devastating as that comes in and does thousands of dollars of damage is just heartbreaking, especially for the ones that don’t have a lot.”
REPORT STORM DAMAGES HERE …
