Huntington Mayor Steve Williams, left, presents Richwood Mayor Bob Henry Baber with some of Huntington’s old Christmas decorations on Tuesday, Nov. 15, 2016, in Huntington.
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. — In the middle of summer, southern West Virginia experienced a deadly flooding event, and now, as winter approaches, officials are working to make sure residents are safe and warm in their homes and hopefully lift their spirits in the process.
On Tuesday, the Huntington Municipal Development Authority donated thousands of dollars’ worth of Christmas decorations to the City of Richwood, letting Richwood Mayor Bob Henry Baber drive a U-Haul straight into the city’s storage facility and take whatever the vehicle could hold.
Stacks of light-up snowflakes and wreaths were made available to Baber, who said he planned on sharing the bounty of the season’s offerings with other flood-affected towns in Nicholas and Greenbrier counties.
Richwood officials previously put out a call asking for donations of holiday decor after the town’s Christmas decorations were destroyed in the June 23 flood.
The National Weather Service called the flooding experienced in southern West Virginia on June 23 an exceptional meteorological event, a vicious lineup of storms that came in simultaneously from the northeast and the southeast.
Almost 8 inches of rain fell in some spots in 12 to 18 hours. That amount of rain in such a short time period is something expected once in 1,000 years, according to the NWS.
“We watched with horror with what happened in West Virginia earlier in the summer,” Huntington Mayor Steve Williams said. “The fact that we’re able to do this well after the fact gladdens our hearts.”
Baber said he was hopeful the holiday decor would help lift the spirits of Richwood residents as well as liven up parts of the town that still show the obvious signs of flood damage.
“Our infrastructure was absolutely pounded from one end to the other,” Baber said. “Right now, we’re working on all the road patches and fixes. We’re trying to get stuff done as best we can before winter. Right now we’re trying to get people tucked into their houses.”
Baber said there still is a great need in Richwood for things like home insulation, wood, heaters and electric blankets, especially with the first forecasted snow of the season predicted for this Saturday, according to the National Weather Service.
“You know, Richwood is a cold place, the coldest place in the South, with the warmest hearts,” Baber said.
As of the end of October, FEMA’s Individuals and Households program had approved more than $41.5 million in grants to 4,294 West Virginia applicants, according to the release. FEMA’s Public Assistance Program had obligated more than $53 million for infrastructure repairs and restoration.
Additionally, the U.S. Small Business Administration had approved 777 loans to 705 homeowners and renters and 70 businesses of all sizes, totaling more than $50 million. The National Flood Insurance Program approved more than 955 claims for more than $32 million.
With those financial needs in hand, the efforts of FEMA’s Volunteer Agency Liaisons, or VALs, have moved to the forefront in helping the establishment of local long-term recovery groups.
On Oct. 24, Sens. Joe Manchin and Shelley Moore Capito announced a $1.7 million FEMA grant for the Nicholas County Schools district, the district in which Richwood is located, to secure temporary facilities destroyed or damaged as a result of the flooding, according to the release.
See more from The Herald-Dispatch.