Ongoing reports about response in wake of flood also essential to story
An editorial from The Dominion Post
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Most news items that stream by have a fairly brief half-life, at best.
After all, these stories are competing with terrorism, mass shootings, presidential elections and Pokemon Go.
But one event this year, during a crowded summer news cycle in our state, that included a near-government shutdown and the conviction of a former mining CEO, hangs over West Virginia like the recent heat wave.
That’s the ongoing news in the wake of the June 23 flood in southern West Virginia.
Nearly six weeks after the flood, the deluge of news items on this subject has never ebbed.
Just last week, more than a dozen brief items and several stories came to our attention, many of which we published.
Of course, some fell into that all too familiar category of heart breaking stories and discouraging news.
For instance, plans for the funeral Sunday of a 14-year-old girl —set to start high school this fall — whose body was never recovered from the flood.
Twenty-three people died in the floods.
Elsewhere, Elkview residents and thousands of motorists on nearby Interstate 79 learned that a once-thriving shopping center won’t reopen until October. A bridge that provided the primary access to the center collapsed during the massive flash-flooding.
However, last week also saw a rash of uplifting and encouraging reports that go beyond just a hope and a prayer.
Despite many who never tire of berating federal agencies, we suspect some may have toned down the volume of their criticism in light of the $72 million in federal assistance, so far.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) said that money includes grants, loans and claims to individuals and state and local governments.
FEMA also made two more counties eligible for temporary manufactured housing units.
More than 4,400 homes were affected by the floods, including more than 2,000 destroyed and nearly 1,300 with major damage.
Tragedy often tops the news cycle in the ever-competitive media industry.
Yet, to our industry’s credit, we strive to transcend more than just news about the amount of damage or the death toll for a few news cycles.
The funerals are over and the rivers have returned to their banks, but that’s not the end of this story. Life will return to something like normal in that area one day.
We look forward to reporting that, too.
