Mobile FEMA teams face long, complicated task in West Virginia rebuilding process
RICHWOOD, W.Va. — As town hall meetings continue to crop up around towns in the flood-affected areas of West Virginia, questions continue to arise about what exactly FEMA’s role is in southern West Virginia’s rebuilding process.
There are a number of answers to that loaded question, and FEMA’s Mobile Disaster Assistance Teams are attempting to provide the public with those answers in a painstakingly thorough manner: going door-to-door in the impacted communities.
That’s how the Mobile Disaster Assistance Teams, 12 throughout the state, are operating throughout the 12 counties that were declared federal disasters following the June 23 floods.
Team member John Snyder, operating in Richwood, said the people he speaks with every day are expressing concerns related to a number of issues. One issue is natural–confusion. The other is harder to solve.
“A lot of people are overwhelmed when they are first affected,” he said. “What we try to do is manage their expectations. They have to realize that we’re here to help them make sure that their home is safe and sanitary to live in. That’s the primary objective.”
His teammate Frank Disimino is similarly a veteran of disaster clean-ups from all around the country. Disimino said there are a number of challenges facing West Virginians going forward, which also translates into challenges for FEMA as well.
“Once you’ve seen one disaster, you’ve seen one disaster,” he said. “Which is not to say there aren’t lessons to be taken away from each event, but every event is unique in terms of its time, its size, its scale, its location, the weather, and the political environment when that disaster occurs.”
One of those challenges is long-term housing. FEMA media relations specialist Renee Befalis said Manufactured Housing Units–essentially mobile homes–are a last resort.
FEMA is beginning to roll these out in certain flood-damaged areas, but other areas won’t be eligible because they don’t meet the necessary conditions for MHUs.
“We cannot put those MHUs back into flood plains,” Bafalis said. “We’re having to look at other locations where we may be able to set them up that’s close to a community.”
Again, MHUs are a last option–not a first. The first option: rental properties and hotels. But that’s been a challenge. Rental properties are limited, and many of the hotels are far removed from the more remote areas that were damaged on June 23.
“A lot of these people have grown up in this community,” Bafalis said. “There’s no place for them to go in these areas. No housing for them. No apartments. No rental properties. No hotels. So, a lot of them don’t want to leave their communities.”
Bafalis is hoping a housing task force working in conjunction with state, county, and local officials will be able to find creative solutions for remote communities where homes are either destroyed or uninhabitable and MHUs are not even an “option of last resort.”
Those problems aside, Bafalis is also concerned about the information flood victims don’t have. Even worse, she said, is the wrong information that people do have.
“One of the main trends we see is that people don’t have all the information they need to make decisions,” she said.
The misinformation and miscommunication play into the function of the mobile team. Using a database they call, “The Collector,” they travel door-to-door in hopes of being able to help those who may be getting lost in the quagmire of confusion.
In some cases, team members may simply be following up with a flood victim who has already registered. In other cases, they may be attempting to help someone register, help them appeal a denial letter, or simply answer questions the resident may have.
According to Befalis, denial letters are common at the beginning of a recovery process. She said the initial denial letters that come don’t immediately mean a victim won’t be eligible for assistance. FEMA is not permitted to duplicate what insurance may already cover. Essentially, if a person has $10,000 worth of damage to their home and the insurance company meets those needs, FEMA would be providing a redundancy.
“Sometimes we’re waiting for your insurance companies to let you know what exactly they’re going to cover if you had insurance,” she said. “We can’t duplicate that. Unfortunately, it takes a little while sometimes to get through this process.”
Bafalis said the process isn’t fast, but the goal is to provide assistance for those who won’t have any other means of rebuilding thoroughly and efficiently. If a person gets rejected early in the process, then appealing the decision is of paramount importance.
As Snyder pointed out, this is one of several things that is leading to public confusion. Snyder and Disimino will be the first to point out that FEMA doesn’t have a magic silver bullet or deep enough pockets to come up with a cure-all solution. It’s a process that depends on a number of factors–the most important of which is participation. That participation is especially important if they come knocking on your front door.
“FEMA really does encourage hearing from the residents–the people who have been most affected–as to how we can do this better,” Disimino said. “How can we change our planning processes? How can we provide different types of resources?”
Snyder said the Small Business Administration has an enormously important role to play. FEMA and the SBA are essentially disaster relief partners. FEMA exists to help those who will have absolutely no recourse for beginning the process of rebuilding. The SBA exists more to serve those who are still able to work, live, and make ends meet with a low-interest loan.
“It’s going to be maybe a loan they might receive as opposed to a grant,” Snyder said. “The grant money is primarily for their primary assistance–their primary housing.”
Talking with the FEMA reps, they agreed that one step has to be taken before the next step–a ladder of sorts. Disimino expounded on that by adding that FEMA doesn’t come to disaster areas to exercise complete control. They are here to coordinate the resources so that local, county, and state officials are able to effectively do their jobs while FEMA is in the area and well after they’ve left.
“FEMA tries as much as possible to make sure that the decision is made at the lowest local level possible with the understanding that it’s the city and the counties who best know the situation, who maintain the relationship with its residents, and who will be here after FEMA is gone,” he said.
In the entire time that FEMA is attempting to exhaust every possibility with potential grant recipients, solve the long-term housing problem, and get information out to people, they are also dealing with a more immediate, widespread concern.
Some people have decided to return to homes that are, at the moment, uninhabitable.
“They don’t want to leave because of their fear of perhaps looting or security for their home,” he said. “That’s one reason.”
It’s created a vicious cycle in the weeks after the floods. There aren’t enough rental properties or hotels available to house the displaced, but the combination of infrastructure, a need for full working utilities, and flood plains make even the “option of last resort” a limited choice throughout the state.
Now? Some will tell you it’s better to have a roof over your head even if living under that roof comes with a great deal of bacteria, mold, and overall health concerns.
Snyder and Disimino agree: it’s important for flood victims to engage in the process with FEMA all the way through while exhausting all options in the effort to get grant money to start the rebuilding process.
As Disimino pointed out, without the engagement by residents, FEMA doesn’t get much-needed feedback, flood victims fall through the cracks, and solutions to the long-term needs in hard-hit communities remain far away.
