Flooding of portions of Glenwood Recreational Park near Princeton, West Virginia, was just one example of the widespread impact of a storm in February 2025. (Greg Jordan | Bluefield Daily Telegraph)
After two widespread floods hit communities in southern and northern West Virginia last year, resulting in fatalities and the destruction of numerous buildings, lawmakers are considering changes to how funds might be distributed after such disasters.
Two similar bills – House Bill 4018 And Senate Bill 390 – advance through the individual bodies of the legislature. They would revise rules that dictate how money from the state’s Flood Resiliency Trust Fund is spent and which projects or individuals are considered priority for funding.
Although it’s still early in the session, these two bills – plus to require one Dredging in flood-prone waterways to reduce the likelihood of flooding – are the only flood-related measures presented so far this session. Meanwhile, flooding disasters are to be expected become more commonplace in the state as flood plains grow and prevention efforts falter.
Both HB 4018 and SB 390 would give the State Resiliency Officer authority to disburse funds to individuals, local governments, state agencies, or other organizations following a flood event, as long as the projects are consistent with the state’s official flood resiliency plan.
They would require that at least half of all money provided through the trust fund go toward “nature-based solutions,” including restoring wetlands and improving floodplains, buying up flood-prone properties or helping residents relocate from high-risk areas. Part of the funds would be specifically allocated for land acquisition and similar climate protection measures.
Local governments seeking funding would be required to adopt or commit to flood-related standards, including hazard mitigation planning, emergency response plans and, in some cases, participation with the Federal Emergency Management Agency Community rating system.
Overall, all monies distributed through the trust fund must be used to improve flood prevention, with a particular focus on low-income communities and those that have been repeatedly affected by flooding.
But even if lawmakers pass fresh spending guidelines, the fund they refer to — the state’s Flood Resiliency Trust Fund — will remain empty because no money has ever been allocated to it since its inception in 2023. The same goes for the state’s Flood Recovery Trust Fund.
While Gov. Patrick Morrisey asks In his proposed state budget, he wanted to transfer $10 million to the Flood Resiliency Trust Fund. That money would go toward developing a warning system to better inform residents in flood-prone areas and hopefully save lives.
However, there would still be a lack of funds to support reconstruction and prevent devastating floods in the first place.
Under former Gov. Jim Justice, the Republican-controlled Legislature repeatedly chose not to send money to the trust fund Judicial inquirieseven as leaders boasted that the state was generating record-breaking revenue.
In the House of Representatives in the last legislative period only 19 legislators — all House Democrats and 10 Republicans — voted for an amendment to the proposed state budget that would have put $50 million into the fund.
Last June, flooding in northern West Virginia killed nine people. Morrisey said He planned to have “additional conversations with lawmakers and others about the importance of flood protection.”
But inside his State of the State speech Earlier this month, Morrisey mentioned the early warning system as the only flood measure. General flood protection/recovery has not been made a priority and both initiatives continue to lack funding.
Earlier this month, emergency management experts told members of the Legislature’s Joint Flood Committee that the lack of funds is making it tough for case managers to lend a hand individuals with long-term recovery, including issues related to housing, reconstruction and more.
Lora Pierce, disaster relief specialist at Catholic Charities West Virginia, said acute recovery — clearing out buildings, removing fallen trees, meeting immediate resource needs for those affected by flooding — is not a major problem in the state because there are so many groups volunteering.
“It’s the long-term recovery, six months after all of the immediate needs may have been met,” Pierce said. “The biggest challenge and hurdle is for disaster case managers to work with these people in their recovery to get them back to a safe home.”
Pierce said almost all long-term recovery efforts are handled by volunteers. In some cases – including last year’s flood Southwest Virginia – Pierce said there were “no disaster case managers at all” to lend a hand with the recovery. Part of that, she said, is because there is little money available to pay people for these necessary services.
Because there is no federal funding for flood recovery, Pierce said any money that goes to communities comes either from local charities and nonprofits or from the federal government.
Pierce said she would like to see the state restructure its trust funds to match those of the federal government, ensuring that families receive money directly but also that case managers and other necessary positions can be filled and compensated.
Nearly $41 million was distributed federally to families affected by flooding in the coalfields last February. This money is necessary, Pierce said, but she wondered what things would look like in the future given the instability at FEMA.
Catherine Carr Clinch, president of Tidal Basin, a disaster services provider, told lawmakers in the same session that they should be aware that “it is unclear what the future of federal government funding (post-disasters) looks like.”
“FEMA’s role is changing and the agency may no longer have the same capacity or ability to support states,” Clinch said. “…We strongly encourage you to consider funding (the Flood Resiliency Trust Fund and the Flood Recovery Trust Fund).”
HB 4018 is currently being considered by the House Committee on Government Organization. SB 390 will receive first reading in the Senate on Monday.
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