As West Virginia faces a heightened risk of flooding, Gov. Jim Justice is asking the Legislature to allocate $50 million to a special trust designed to help implement the state’s flood resiliency plan that is set to be completed later this year.
Last year, lawmakers created the West Virginia Flood Resiliency Trust Fund to provide funding for the State Resiliency Office, created in the aftermath of the deadly 2016 floods. The fund would enhance flood prevention and protection, prioritizing low-income communities. But lawmakers didn’t put any money in the fund.
The bill that created the trust also moved the Disaster Recovery Trust Fund, established in 1990 to provide relief after a natural disaster, under the authority of the State Resiliency Office. But that fund is also empty.
“There’s no money in the resiliency fund or the Disaster Recovery Trust Fund,” Robert Martin, the office’s director, told lawmakers last month.
The State Resiliency Office is responsible for coordinating and planning disaster and resiliency efforts with a specific focus on flooding. The office must develop a new state flood plan by June 30, 2024.
This plan will be an update to the state’s 2004 flood protection plan which laid out several actionable recommendations, including suggestions on floodplain and wastewater management as well as improved building codes and flood warning systems; it was never implemented by state agencies.
The state’s mountainous terrain and thousands of rivers and creeks makes West Virginia specifically vulnerable to flooding, which is likely only to get worse as climate change continues to increase the risk.
Martin told lawmakers last month that a significant barrier to working on any project was the lack of funding, adding that the office was working towards applying for federal grants and funding opportunities.
“There’s probably projects right now we’d be able to execute if we had what we were looking to do either with federal or state dollars,” Martin said.