Flood risk outpaces warnings, advocates say, as W.Va. considers changes to resiliency fund

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — As the W.Va. House of Delegates considers changes to Senate Bill 390, the West Virginia Rivers Coalition warns that the state risks narrowing its flood strategy at a time when disasters are becoming more frequent, more costly, and more destructive.

The organization points to a growing gap between early-warning technology and long-term flood prevention, arguing that while alert systems can save lives, they do not reduce the physical risk that communities face when storms arrive. According to the coalition, flood resilience requires sustained investment in mitigation, particularly nature-based solutions, long before rainfall begins.

A new analysis by Rebuild by Design underscores that concern. Its report, Atlas of Disaster: West Virginia, documents 23 federally declared disasters between 2011 and 2024, all of which required federal assistance.

Nineteen of those disasters involved flooding, while 17 included landslides or mudslides. Every county in the state has been affected, with Lincoln County recording the most disaster declarations.

Together, those events triggered more than $950 million in FEMA and HUD assistance, according to the report, a figure that the coalition says reflects the long-term costs of underinvesting in flood mitigation.

“Warning systems help people react,” said Jennie Smith, executive director of the coalition. “But they don’t prevent floodwaters from entering homes, overwhelming infrastructure, or destabilizing hillsides.”

Smith says proposed changes tied to SB 390 could weaken the structure of the state’s Flood Resiliency Trust Fund by removing required funding allocations for nature-based solutions and low-income communities.

Without those guardrails, the organization argues, there is less assurance that money will be spent on projects that measurably reduce flood risk or reach communities that historically bear the greatest damage.

Research cited by the group suggests prevention is significantly more cost-effective than recovery. A 2024 study by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation and Allstate found that every $1 invested in disaster resilience saves $13 in economic losses, cleanup costs, and long-term damage.

Flood impacts, Smith noted, are not evenly distributed across the state. Communities with limited resources often face the greatest exposure and the longest recovery periods, a reality the coalition members say should shape how public funds are allocated.

The coalition emphasizes nature-based strategies such as stream restoration, floodplain reconnection, wetlands protection, and riparian buffers. These approaches, the group argues, slow and absorb floodwaters, improve water quality, and reduce downstream damage—benefits that early warning systems alone cannot provide.

Carrie Decker, community engagement manager for the coalition, says the scale of flooding damage across the state reflects a systemic challenge that cannot be addressed by any single policy or technology.

“West Virginia communities know the devastation caused by flooding all too well,” Decker said. “It will take collaborative effort across the state to address flood prevention and mitigation. Partnering with organizations like Rebuild by Design allows us to ground those efforts in data and science while supporting the state’s long-term economic development.”

Coalition members also question how early-warning systems would function during power outages or in communities without the resources to act on alerts. According to the organization, resilience planning must account for what happens after a warning is issued, including evacuation capacity, emergency response, and recovery funding.

Rebuild by Design’s report echoes those concerns, calling for dedicated, long-term funding streams for resilient infrastructure, including sewer upgrades, elevated roadways, voluntary relocation from high-risk areas, and green buffers designed to reduce flood intensity.

In recent history, there has been an urgency for such investments. West Virginia suffered catastrophic flooding in 1985 and again in 2016, resulting in dozens of deaths and billions of dollars in damage. More recently, severe flooding events struck southern West Virginia in February 2025 and northern counties in June.

Taken together, the coalition says, that without a shift from reactive disaster response to proactive flood prevention, the financial and human toll of flooding will continue to rise.

The Atlas of Disaster: West Virginia report and related tools are available through Rebuild by Design.