Roads are washed out, tens of thousands of residents remain without power, and damage to homes and businesses has only begun to be assessed in Southwest Virginia after a once-in-a-generation storm caused widespread flooding throughout the Appalachian region late last week.
U.S. Sens. Tim Kaine and Mark Warner, along with Gov. Glenn Youngkin, appealed to the Biden administration for assistance. By Sunday, seven localities had been approved for assistance: Grayson, Smyth, Tazewell, Washington, Wise and Wythe counties and the city of Galax.
“I am glad to see the Biden-Harris administration move quickly to grant Virginia’s request for an emergency declaration. I am heartbroken by the destruction and loss of life in Southwest Virginia, and I’m going to continue doing everything I can to bring federal resources to the Commonwealth,” Warner said in a statement.
The governor’s office said in a statement on Sunday that it is working through the Federal Emergency Management Agency process to get all impacted localities included.
FEMA assessments to begin on Tuesday
FEMA will begin to conduct in-person, individual household damage assessments along with requests for public assistance on Tuesday in 10 counties, including Bedford, Giles, Grayson, Montgomery, Pittsylvania, Smyth, Tazewell, Washington and Wythe counties and the city of Galax.
The agency will also begin accepting requests for public assistance on Tuesday in these additional localities in the southwest region: Bland, Buchanan, Carroll, Craig, Dickenson, Lee, Pulaski, Russell, Scott and Wise counties along with the cities of Bristol, Covington, Danville, Norton and Radford, and the town of Christiansburg.
“Hurricane Helene’s impacts were felt across Southwest Virginia, and the impacts are heart-wrenching,” Youngkin said in a statement on Sunday. “Immediately, we went to work to request additional federal assistance on top of the state and local assistance that we are already providing. Thank you to President Biden, Senator Warner, Senator Kaine and Congressman Griffith for their support and continued coordination to provide assistance to Virginians in need.”
During a press conference Monday, Youngkin said the commonwealth is in the process of filing for an expedited major disaster declaration. That would start the flow of assets, people and resources to the region to start addressing the needs of survivors.
As of Monday, neither FEMA officials nor Youngkin knew the total amount of aid expected to be provided to Virginians.
“I can’t begin to estimate it,” Youngkin said. “It’s got to be assessed.”
How much aid will FEMA provide? It’s up to residents to report damage
It’s too early to tell how much and what kind of assistance FEMA will provide as damage has only begun to be assessed.
U.S. Rep. Morgan Griffith, R-Salem, called on residents to report any storm-related damage, no matter how small, to their county or city emergency management office.
“This happens in Southwest Virginia, and it’s true in Appalachia as a whole. People are used to being self-reliant,” Griffith said. “Right now, get those records in, document everything, get those pictures and get them in to your county. … Report it to somebody even if you can take care of it yourself, because it may help your neighbor.”
Even if residents think they can handle repairs on their own, reporting the damage to their county emergency management office will grow the total amount of aid needed in the region. And even those small repairs could help increase the amount of aid coming from FEMA to the area, Griffith said.
Small issues, like a tree falling on a house or a shed and causing minimal damage, or a quarter-inch of water in the basement, can add up when FEMA works to determine how much and what kind of aid is needed in an area.
“Every report helps,” Griffith said. “People really need the help, and FEMA is supposed to be the agency to do it.”
Past problems with FEMA funding and disaster aid
In 2021 and 2022, FEMA twice authorized aid to help rebuild local infrastructure after floods ripped through Buchanan County. But the federal agency twice denied requests for individual assistance for homeowners after more than 100 homes were damaged or destroyed. The state appealed the denial, but FEMA turned those appeals down, saying that the damage “was not of such severity and magnitude” to warrant the assistance.
The impression was that rural areas in Southwest Virginia don’t have enough population density, or enough high-dollar homes, to meet the unknown FEMA threshold for aid. Politicians in the region began to push for more transparency as a result of those aid denials from FEMA.
On the state level, the General Assembly established the Virginia Community Flood Preparedness Fund during the 2020 session to mitigate flood risks and promote preparedness.
Every county that touches the New River was hard-hit, Griffith said Monday.
“That’s not to say that other places weren’t hard hit,” he said, and shared stories he heard from constituents in Roanoke and Abingdon who also saw storm-related damage and power outages.
