West Virginia has two separate federal disaster requests sitting in Washington, for two separate disasters, and no approval had been announced for either through Saturday [1][2].
The older one dates to June 22 and 23, when flooding hit Boone and Logan counties in the southern part of the state. The damage assessment behind the state's request counts 186 homes affected, 12 of them destroyed and 18 with major damage [1]. Gov. Patrick Morrisey's request for a presidential disaster declaration was published July 21, four weeks after the water [1].
The newer disaster arrived the same day that request went out. Starting July 21, severe storms, straight-line winds, tornadoes, flash flooding, and landslides tore across north-central West Virginia, hitting Barbour, Doddridge, Harrison, Lewis, Pleasants, Ritchie, and Upshur counties, with the state noting more counties could be added [2]. Two people were killed, both in Upshur County [2]. Morrisey filed an expedited request for a major disaster declaration on July 25, seeking Individual Assistance for households, Public Assistance for governments' response and repair costs, and statewide Hazard Mitigation funding [2].
The arithmetic of the wait runs like this. The June flood is 41 days past, and its declaration request is 12 days old. The July storms are 12 days past, and the expedited request, the mechanism that exists to shortcut exactly this kind of delay, has gone eight days without an announced answer.
Until a president signs a major disaster declaration, none of the assistance Morrisey requested flows: no FEMA Individual Assistance grants for the households in those 186 damaged homes, no Public Assistance reimbursement for the counties that did the emergency work, no Hazard Mitigation money against the next flood. The requests state what West Virginia says it needs. The federal government, through Saturday, has announced neither a yes nor a no on either one.
The two requests now move on separate tracks, with separate incident periods, damage totals, and county lists. Two people in Upshur County are dead; 186 homes in Boone and Logan counties took damage weeks earlier. Both files wait on the same signature.
