Texas Floods Should Be a Wake-Up Call for West Virginia
When floods tore through Central Texas on July 4th, entire communities were swallowed in minutes. Over 100 lives were lost. Homes gone. Roads ripped apart. It was heartbreaking – and it should terrify every West Virginian.
Why? Because Central Texas and Central Appalachia (West Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, and North Carolina) are the most flash flood-prone regions in the entire country. If it happened there, it can happen here. In fact, it already has.
We’ve seen flood after flood hammer this state in just the past year – Boone, Cabell, Greenbrier, Kanawha, Lincoln, Marion, Monroe, Mineral, Mingo, and Summers counties were particularly hard hit in February and again in May. We’re not just getting wetter – we’re getting walloped. But while the water rises, Charleston does nothing.
In 2023, lawmakers smartly created the West Virginia Flood Resiliency Trust Fund to help communities prepare before disaster strikes. But here’s the kicker: they never funded it. Not one dollar. Earlier this year, Democrats in the Legislature backed two proposals to finally get the fund off the ground, an ambitious $250 million proposal and a more modest $50 million proposal. The first proposal was never taken up in Committee and 75 Republicans (including our own delegate, Bryan Ward) voted against the more modest, $50 million proposal.
Let’s call that what it is: a failure of leadership. A dereliction of duty.
Even worse, FEMA denied large portions of the aid requests for the February and May floods – help West Virginians used to be able to count on. The Trump Administration’s message is clear: states must take greater responsibility for their own preparedness and recovery. And what did our legislators in Charleston do? They wasted most of the legislative session banning DEI and defining gender – political theater while real crises impact our communities.
This isn’t about left or right. It’s about whether we’re going to protect our communities or wait until we’re knee-deep in the next disaster. Flood prevention shouldn’t be political – it’s practical and fiscally responsible. And it’s urgent.
I’m calling on Delegate Bryan Ward and every member of the Legislature: fund the West Virginia Flood Resiliency Trust Fund. We don’t need another headline or another heartbreak to prove what’s at stake. The time to act is now!
Sincerely, John Rosato Lost City, WV (Chair, Hardy County Democratic Committee)
