photo by: Joselyn King

U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., discusses federal earmark funding for local projects during a stop in Wheeling on Thursday.

WHEELING — U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin said he will do all he can to help obtain federal aid and assistance for local areas affected by flooding.

Manchin, D-W.Va, spoke on the issue while traveling in the Northern Panhandle on Thursday.

“I went up and down the panhandle, and it was just horrible,” Manchin said during a stop in Wheeling. “I came through Follansbee and Wellsburg … thank God there’s not been anything life-threatening. People are taking heed.

“They need to know there is (state and federal) help out there for them. The time they need help is when the water starts receding. That’s when you can get the most things done — when they are hauling the trash away, everything that’s been destroyed.”

Federal help to assist those affected by flooding comes from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, though Gov. Jim Justice must first declare a state of emergency designating affected areas, Manchin explained.

On Thursday afternoon, Justice amended a recent State of Emergency declaration to include Barbour, Brooke, Hancock, Marshall, Ohio, Wetzel, and Wood counties because of flooding and ongoing storm-related threats.

“There has to be so much damage before it qualifies,” Manchin said. “I’m going to do all I can to make sure they get all the FEMA relief if they qualify, and I can help them there,” he said.

Manchin had scheduled stops in the Northern Panhandle to meet with local officials and discuss with them their projects for which he had secured federal earmark dollars. He explained that in the past when a federal lawmaker secured an earmark for a local project, they often had no idea how the money went on to be used, and with no one watching they “went sour” and resulted in the funding of such things as “the bridge to nowhere.”

“We ask you all to submit your highest priorities, and we see how we can help an area, and how we can get the best return,” Manchin said. “Then we put these on our website because we want everybody to know them. We want to be able to brag about what you do with the money that comes.”

The meeting in Ohio County was convened at the Wheeling Artisan Center, which was the recipient of earmarks for renovation and upgrades. Jay Frey and Walker Holloway, representing Wheeling Heritage, provided Manchin an update on the efforts, and Manchin had the opportunity to briefly look in at the Wheeling Artisan Center Shop that has been relocated from the second to the first floor.

Wheeling City Manager Robert Herron spoke about the Wheeling Suspension Bridge project, noting it probably won’t be reopened to vehicular traffic.

Mayor Glenn Elliott — also a Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate seat from which Manchin is retiring — sat next to Manchin during the discussion. He told Manchin he had concerns about the Suspension Bridge no longer being open to vehicles, but instead being considered “a monument” by the State Department of Highways and no longer eligible for funding needed for its maintenance.

Herron also spoke of the new Wheeling Police Department headquarters, and of construction on a new fire station that has been delayed due to the contractor’s bankruptcy.

Manchin asked where the city’s new welcome center would be located. Frank O’Brien of the Wheeling Convention and Visitors Bureau gave Manchin an overview of that project to be located at the site of the former Wheeling Inn near the suspension bridge on Main Street.

Also invited to speak were Marshall County Commissioner Mike Ferro; State Sen. Laura Wakim-Chapman, R-Ohio; and Delegate Shawn Fluharty, D-Ohio.