In June 2016, a severe and unprecedented 1,000-year flood-ravaged parts of West Virginia. Between 8 and 10 inches fell within a period of 12 hours, causing debilitating flooding across 17 counties. A state of emergency in 44 of the 55 West Virginia counties was declared by the Governor. The flooding caused widespread damage to housing, business, and infrastructure, left thousands of West Virginians homeless, and caused the loss of 23 lives. Verified losses reported by FEMA totaled over $45 million statewide.

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West Virginia Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster (WV VOAD) became the sub­ recipient of a Disaster Case Management Grant (DCMP) through the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Services, Bureau for Behavioral Health in December 2016. WV VOAD had the grant completely staffed by early 2017 and services were available to flood survivors by January 9, 2017, until the grant closed on May 31, 2019.

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During the three-year operation of WV VOAD's DCMP, 2390 families were served and an additional value of service in excess of $42,157,477.43 was amassed on behalf of families in Kanawha, Clay, Jackson, Nicholas, Roane, Webster, Fayette, Summers, Greenbrier, Monroe and Pocahontas Counties. Disaster case managers worked closely with families to connect them to appropriate services, advocate for valid FEMA appeals, develop and implement recovery plans and help them establish a "new" normal. Recovery plans included rebuilds, bridge replacements, major and minor repairs, and mobile home replacements in addition to replacement of household goods and advocacy.

 

Proudly, WV VOAD successfully implemented the DECMP grant with zero programmatic and financial findings!