Governor Patrick Morrisey announced that the federal government accepted his disaster declaration request for McDowell, Mercer, Mingo, and Wyoming counties.
FEMA is still doing joint damage assessments with the state and the county and preliminary damage assessments on public infrastructure. So, there could be additional grant opportunities from FEMA for West Virginia.
“We don’t walk into an event trying to forecast the total scope of how much damage,” said Federal Coordinating Officer Mark O’Hanlon. “We understand that the damages that were done are significant and tragic to these communities, and we will work with the state and the counties to try to maximize the federal benefits we can provide.”
Personal recovery from a storm of this magnitude is individual. FEMA makes itself present in the communities and demonstrates what it can do, what other federal partners can provide, and how it can tie in faith-based communities.
“Private sector, private nonprofits. We bring everybody to the table that we possibly can to provide support because every family’s recovery is going to look different,” the federal coordinating officer said. “And we want to make sure that we can be responsive and help inform their very important decisions.”
O’Hanlon says he’s not surprised this approval for funding came through as quickly as it did because we’re blessed to have leadership that cares about the communities FEMA serves.
“While there may be a change in leadership, the intent to support our communities impacted by disaster, that doesn’t change,” he said. “We have leaders who are compassionate and empathetic, and understand we are positioned to provide the best kinds of help when disasters exceed the limit of what the state and county can do for themselves.”
FEMA’s goal is to get this done as quickly as possible so they can start the recovery process with the jurisdictions. There are several ways people can apply for benefits, especially in the four counties now. Soon, they will establish disaster recovery centers.
“How often are these communities impacted by natural hazards, storms, and other events? What essential government functions have been impacted? There are many more criteria. That’s sort of the tip of the iceberg,” said O’Hanlon. “But we try to get a holistic viewpoint of the scale and scope of damage. And then support the state in their request to the White House for that federal support.”
Morrisey’s disaster assistance request is still under review by FEMA. They have criteria for assisting and walk the ground with the people who live in those communities to assess how many homes were damaged, how many were destroyed, and what critical infrastructure may have been damaged.
“We’ll have disaster survivor assistance teams knocking door to door. We’ll have our https://www.disasterassistance.gov website established so people can register remotely if that’s their preference,” O’Hanlon said. “And our call center will be established so that people can call in if they want to talk to somebody. We’ll be here as long as the state needs us and desires us to be here, and our desire is to help.”
