Flooded-out residents in Southern West Virginia can be moved into temporary housing in weeks instead of months because mobile homes are being put on land used in previous disasters.
CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Flooded-out residents in Southern West Virginia can be moved into temporary housing in weeks instead of months because mobile homes are being put on land used in previous disasters.
The state Housing Development Fund has coordinated the effort with state disaster officials and the Federal Emergency Management Agency to give the latest victims a place to stay as soon as possible.
FEMA spokeswoman Alexandra Kirin said West Virginia has been "extremely proactive" in its approach to temporary housing in disasters.
Two Mingo County sites used after floods in 2004 will soon house 57 families hit by high waters in May, said Leslie Fitzwater, a spokeswoman for the state Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Management.
Six of the 41 units at one site in Taylorville are currently occupied. Sixteen families will be housed at another site in Varney.
In addition, the Housing Development Fund has made sites in flood-ravaged McDowell and Wyoming counties available to FEMA if needed to accommodate dozens of mobile homes. These sites were developed after flooding in 2001 and 2002.
Disaster officials nationwide have various options to house disaster victims, including hotels and shelters. In Florida, the Federal Emergency Management Agency is considering using foreclosed homes for hurricane victims if other options are exhausted.
The hollows of Southern West Virginia get hit with flooding several times each decade. In the rural region, hotels are scarce and flat land -- especially that outside the flood plain -- is at a premium.
CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Flooded-out residents in Southern West Virginia can be moved into temporary housing in weeks instead of months because mobile homes are being put on land used in previous disasters.
The state Housing Development Fund has coordinated the effort with state disaster officials and the Federal Emergency Management Agency to give the latest victims a place to stay as soon as possible.
FEMA spokeswoman Alexandra Kirin said West Virginia has been "extremely proactive" in its approach to temporary housing in disasters.
Two Mingo County sites used after floods in 2004 will soon house 57 families hit by high waters in May, said Leslie Fitzwater, a spokeswoman for the state Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Management.
Six of the 41 units at one site in Taylorville are currently occupied. Sixteen families will be housed at another site in Varney.
In addition, the Housing Development Fund has made sites in flood-ravaged McDowell and Wyoming counties available to FEMA if needed to accommodate dozens of mobile homes. These sites were developed after flooding in 2001 and 2002.
Disaster officials nationwide have various options to house disaster victims, including hotels and shelters. In Florida, the Federal Emergency Management Agency is considering using foreclosed homes for hurricane victims if other options are exhausted.
The hollows of Southern West Virginia get hit with flooding several times each decade. In the rural region, hotels are scarce and flat land -- especially that outside the flood plain -- is at a premium.
Some time after the 2004 floods, Gov. Joe Manchin asked the Housing Development Fund to help secure the land used for temporary mobile homes before the next big disaster.
It ended up being not only a big cost savings but a time-saver, too. Preparing a site for temporary housing means moving dirt around to make the land level. That's difficult to do after a flood and especially difficult if it continues to rain.
"Flood time is a bad time for that," said Larry Puccio, Manchin's chief of staff.
When floods struck Southern West Virginia in 2001, 2002 and 2004, FEMA brought in mobile homes, found suitable locations to put them and hooked up public utilities. Eligible displaced residents could live there for up to 18 months. But eventually the housing units were relocated, the utilities removed and the lots abandoned.
That meant the time between the floods and setting up temporary housing could take up to three months -- too long for a family that has no place to live, Puccio said.
Housing Development Fund Executive Director Joe Hatfield said the Fund has secured as many as seven sites. The previous owners were coal and timber companies, individuals and groups that had large enough tracts to be used for mobile home parks.
Other land owned by various counties and individuals also could be used by FEMA if necessary, Fitzwater said.
"It just makes sense to have these sites available," she said. "It saves time in locating sites with each new disaster and keeps the time period that these people's lives are interrupted to as minimal as possible.
"Unfortunately, this is a problem that's not going away."
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