|Photo by Emma Delk| Assistant Ohio County Emergency Management Agency Director Tony Campbell, far right, explains to FEMA team members that the city sanitation crews have removed most of the debris and mud from the flooding on Wheeling Island.

After viewing a presentation by Ohio County Emergency Management Director Lou Vargo on the flood damage in the area, a Federal Emergency Management Agency team set off on Monday to tour and assess the houses damaged by flooding and landslips.

FEMA team members, Small Business Administration officials and West Virginia Emergency Management Department members attended Monday morning’s meeting at the City-County building. Ohio County and Wheeling representatives at the meeting included Vargo, Assistant Ohio County Emergency Management Agency Director Tony Campbell, Assistant City Manager Bill Lanham and Ohio County Planning and GIS Coordinator Dave Weaver.

Ohio County EMA has already completed and sent a Preliminary Damage Assessment to FEMA. The FEMA team’s visit on Monday was to verify the information in the PDA and look for more damage in the area to create a Complete Damage Assessment.

The FEMA team’s CDA is the next step in acquiring a record of damage to be submitted for the presidential declaration of a national disaster in West Virginia. The CDA will include buildings affected by the flooding, from those destroyed to those that received only minor damage.

“We will be looking at damage to houses and giving them some degree of damage,” summarized FEMA Damage Assessment Leader Rhonda Meggitt. “We’re just going to tally all that information for the state to use to possibly get a presidential declaration of disaster.

Damage to houses and properties will be sorted into the categories of “minor, moderate and major/destroyed.” Vargo noted the extent of the damage to houses will play a “big factor” in the FEMA team’s assessment.

“Whether just the basement of your house flooded or your house was destroyed, there are different levels to the damage of this flooding,” explained Vargo. “There’s no question when you see some of the pictures of the houses damaged from the landslips that the damage in some areas is major.”

Once the Ohio County FEMA team completes their CDA report, they will meet with other county FEMA teams to complete a comprehensive report of all the flood damage in West Virginia.

This report will be sent to Region Three FEMA Head Maryann Tierney to determine whether the damage meets Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act criteria.

If the report meets this criteria, Tierney will contact President Joe Biden to review the damage report and decide whether to declare a national disaster in West Virginia.

If Biden declares a national disaster in West Virginia, individual and public assistance can be distributed throughout the state. Residents can apply for FEMA reimbursement, with Vargo giving the example of residents being refunded for the cost of a washer, dryer, or furnace that was damaged in the flood.

Small Business Association officials were also present at the meeting and during the tour of the damage to see what local businesses would need assistance from the flooding.

The timeline for this funding’s distribution is unclear, with Vargo explaining that the distribution is a “long process.”

At the beginning of Monday’s meeting with the FEMA team, Vargo traced the flooding back to April 4 when Ohio County received three inches of rainfall.

“I think the important thing to remember here is that up to (Acrisure Stadium) in Pittsburgh, that’s our whole watershed,” said Vargo. “They had over four inches of rain in that area so all that rain comes down here and adds to our river levels.”

Vargo explained that as they prepared for the flooding on that Thursday, they had six water rescues that night. On Friday morning, Ohio County EMA received word of people on Wheeling Island and South Wheeling who could not escape their houses due to the flooding and reports of 60 flooded basements.

Meggitt then asked how many residential structures are on Wheeling Island. Weaver responded that there were over 1,100 structures, including 900 residential structures.

Vargo then displayed photos of flooded areas of South Wheeling, including the Wheeling Water Pollution Control Plant, which suffered “major damage.”

A FEMA team member questioned whether the plant was privately owned or owned by the government, and Vargo confirmed that the plant was government-owned. Following this answer, Meggitt explained that they would only need to see damage to residential areas and businesses.

“I know the state is thinking about requesting public assistance damage assessments, but that hasn’t happened yet,” explained Meggitt. “We’re not able to capture government-owned properties because of that. Businesses and homes are what we would like to see.”

Another aspect of the flooding Vargo touched on in his presentation was that the Ohio River crested above flood stages at 37.8 feet within 10 days of its initial peak of 41.49 feet.

“This was the first time in 37 years I’ve been doing this that we’ve had a second river crest in less than two weeks,” said Vargo. “Our public works department did a phenomenal job of debris removal that first week and then that Saturday they’re being called up again. It’s just been a unique thing that we’ve never seen before.”

Vargo then displayed photos of houses on Park View Road and Church Street in Wheeling that were destroyed by landslips caused by excessive rain. FEMA members chimed in with questions regarding whether the houses had been occupied and/or renovated before the landslips.

Next, Vargo presented photos of the landslip at Mount Zion Cemetery, which destroyed nearly 200 gravestones.

Following the meeting, the FEMA team would head to the landslip locations Vargo presented to assess the damage. The team would also visit three other houses in Warwood damaged by another landslip now spreading laterally in the area.

At the conclusion of Vargo’s presentation of damage, the meeting’s discussion turned to how FEMA, state and county officials would tour the damage together. The group decided to cover the spots that were most affected based on the height of flood water in the area.

Meggitt explained that to assess the list of homes that had been flooded, the team may just drive by some areas to review the damage.

“Basically, a lot of these houses are doing to have the same damage,” noted Meggitt, who then asked whether the Ohio County EMA had collected the extent of the damage to houses.

Vargo responded that 20 to 30 residents had completed a survey regarding the damage to their house. Surveyors rated their damage on a scale of 1 to 3, with 3 being the most accrued.

For residents in flooded areas who did not fill out the survey, Meggitt explained that they would still thoroughly survey each area.

“Just because they didn’t call in their damage doesn’t mean we’re not going to assess the whole area,” noted Meggitt.

After the meeting adjourned, two cars containing a federal/state official, county official and Small Business Association member departed from the City-County Building to assess the flood damage.

Vargo explained that the “big thing” the FEMA team would accomplish during the tour is collecting the addresses of damaged houses. Weaver will then take these addresses and create a spreadsheet to assess how many houses were damaged and in which areas of the county.

A review of flood damage in Marshall and Wetzel counties will be performed today by the FEMA team.