It's time for communities affected by the historic June floods to start thinking about what their communities will look like years down the road, said Maj. Gen. James A. Hoyer, adjutant general of West Virginia and head of the state's National Guard.
He spoke to a crowd of about 150 people at a meeting of the Greater Kanawha Long-Term Recovery Committee, which hosted the evening discussion at the Mountain Mission headquarters on Charleston's West Side with state and local representatives leading the effort to restore the communities in 12 counties affected by the disaster.
"A lot of my time right now from the flood is focused on how to work with various organizations to look at what is the economic future for the communities that were impacted so we have places for our young people to go in the future," Hoyer said.
Between 32-36 percent of the people in the affected counties are over the age of 62, and about 35 percent of the people affected by the floods are "economically disadvantaged," according to Hoyer.
"It's hard enough responding to a flood, but the flood that hit us unfortunately impacted a demographic that was already having challenging issues," Hoyer said.
Hoyer and other officials present at the meeting urged people to not become impatient with the state and the county as the recovery proceeds. Hoyer said that, in some instances, recovery couldn't happen as quickly as he'd like because agencies must comply with rules set by the Federal Emergency Management Agency to ensure the state would be reimbursed for its efforts.
For instance, Hoyer said federal law requires every home affected by the flood need to be checked for asbestos before it can be demolished. Then, if a family wants, and is able, to rebuild a home with money from FEMA, they need to adhere to strict guidelines in order for the state to be reimbursed.
James Young, the Kanawha County Commission's deputy planning director, said the county has submitted requests to have 146 homes in the county demolished because they are uninhabitable and a danger to public health. The request, which was made to FEMA and the National Guard, would offer a free demolition to the owner of the home.
Of those submitted applications, 108 already have been approved while only 18 have been demolished thus far. Young said it is expensive to demolish these homes and funds from FEMA are needed to help pay for the process.
"The best part about this is it's free, there's no lien and there's no deed restriction," Young said.
So for these people, it gives them an opportunity to do something with that property.
Young said that a group from Fairmont had been contracted to demolish the homes.
"Let's do what we need to do to help get people whole again and families as whole again as we can, but don't take your eye off how we coordinate within state, local and federal agencies and private groups to look at rebuilding the economic activities to keep kids around," Hoyer said.
Young estimated that as many as 200 homes would need to be demolished in the county, and said many of the homes damaged by the flood would need significant upgrades to come into compliance with floodplain regulations not present when the homes were built.
If some homes along Spencer Road were rebuilt, they would have to be rebuilt upward of 10 to 12 feet off the ground, Young said. That could prove challenging for older residents who might not be able to easily climb a flight of stairs.
"We are going to have a more resilient community," Young said. "It may not be next year, it may be seven years down the road, but Kanawha County is invested in this since day one. We've been there since day one and we will be for years."
Reach Jake Jarvis at 304-348-7939, jake.jarvis@wvgazettemail.com, Facebook.com/newsroomjake or follow @NewsroomJake on Twitter.