Researchers Offer Hard-Hit Communities Solutions for Flood Recovery and Resilience
The user-friendly tools include the West Virginia Hazard Library, an online database that allows stakeholders to search hazard resources specific to West Virginia, like the Best Practices Guide, floodplain manager trainings and flood assessment survey results. Additionally, users can check 3D maps and reports to understand their risk of flooding and ways to identify mitigation strategies.
Maxwell said the project began with smaller scale work in a few communities and then expanded to the state level.
“We primarily engaged with the flood hazard management professionals like floodplain managers, regulatory people and then people that are active when there’s an event, like nonprofit or religious groups that help with flood remediation. We had everyone from geospatial professionals and social scientists to people helping with disaster management. And we had community groups and volunteers.”
Multiple local and state organizations also participated, including the West Virginia State Resiliency Office and the Center for Rural and Community Health at the West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine.
Prior to the WVFRF, there had not been a systematic documentation of the lessons learned in the 2016 flood, which cost more than $1 billion and was designated a “thousand-year rainfall event” by the National Weather Service. Greenbrier County was one of the counties hit hardest and, years later, residents in some towns there are still recovering and rebuilding.
Flood and natural hazard risks are high in West Virginia compared to other areas, due to steep topography, a humid climate and weak geologic strata in places where landslides are likely to occur. West Virginia has one of the highest per capita inland riverine flooding and landslide rates in the nation.
“We’re in a unique situation, I think, to need these types of tools, because they are real problems,” Maxwell said. “And a lot of people live in the floodplain because that’s just where the flat land is, especially in the southern part of the state. It’s basically steep hillsides and floodplains, and it’s not easy to move out of the floodplain, either.”
All 55 West Virginia counties have a high level of risk for flooding. The state lacks a long-term flood recovery plan and, as such, its response to floods has been inefficient, according to the researchers, who focused on accessing those lessons to prepare for future flood response and recovery.
“The goal is to have WVFRF be a one-stop shop for any people needing information about community-level flood resiliency or socioeconomic data,” Maxwell said. “We have data for towns and incorporated areas, the unincorporated counties, regions and then watersheds and river basins.”
The framework will be applicable in a variety of situations.
“We think it will be helpful for groups that want to write grants for their communities, for mitigation projects or for FEMA-related projects,” he said. “They’ll be able to make a point of what and where their risks are and how to reduce those quantified risks.”
The project is unique to West Virginia and holds the potential for expansion into other states with similar challenges. The researchers have had conversations with groups in North Carolina and eastern Kentucky — places that have recently seen significant flooding — and are hoping to integrate the data into frameworks that also deal with landslides.
“I don’t think there’s any other state that has something like it,” Maxwell said. “We’re ahead of the curve. But I do think other states are going to be looking at this as an example of what they want to produce for their own states.”
He added that the flash flooding that occurred in northern West Virginia over June 14 and 15, which claimed several lives, “is a clear indicator of the need of such tools to aid communities in understanding risks and preparing for hazards. It also highlights the important work of floodplain managers and emergency responders, which we hope will benefit from the West Virginia Flood Resiliency Framework.”
