Project Overview

The objective of this community-engaged project is to co-create with communities, volunteers, flood mitigation professionals, and academic researchers the West Virginia Flood Resilience Framework (WVFRF), a freely available online resource containing materials created by our project to support residents, local leaders, non-profits, and state officials in efforts to increase flood resilience for West Virginia (WV) communities through improved knowledge about flood risk, floodplain management, and comprehensive disaster preparation.

Our team is a collaboration between civic actors from non-profit organizations and state agencies that play key roles in disaster preparation, response, and recovery in WV and researchers from West Virginia University (WVU) and the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry (ESF) with social science, legal, and geographic information science (GIS) expertise and extensive experience working with flood-prone WV communities.

All 55 counties in WV have high flooding risk, which is compounded by aging infrastructure and socioeconomic vulnerability. Every county in WV has had a flooding-related federal disaster declared since 1996. Across the country, 99% of US counties experienced at least one flood between 1996 and 2019.

Rainelle, WV during 2016 Flood

Our Stage 1 planning grant investigated lessons learned from a disastrous 2016 flood in Greenbrier County, WV and confirmed hypotheses that:

  1. Organizations in the response and recovery network require increased capacity
  2. There is a need for improved cross network coordination
  3. Additional flood risk knowledge is essential

Stage 1 summary video


Goals

Expanding upon the Stage 1 work, this Stage 2 project will:

  1. Use a state-wide survey to assess how well WV residents have recovered from past floods and how prepared they are for future floods
  2. Create flood risk indicator reports for all 286 floodplain communities in WV
  3. Develop in-depth flood risk visualization tools for select disadvantaged communities using Participatory GIS (PGIS) methods
  4. Conduct in-person and virtual trainings about floodplain management and flood insurance
  5. Host the Statewide Flood Resilience Symposium and create the Best Practices Guide for Pre-disaster Coordination of Flood Resilience (WVFRF) in WV
  6. Build and launch the WVFRF

Floodplain communities in West Virginia


Funding

National Science Foundation

Award Number 2321985

"CIVIC-FA Track B: Creating the West Virginia Flood Resilience Framework for comprehensive disaster response and long-term community recovery"


Links

Click image for WV Flood Tool

Click image for Stage 1 report

Click image for WVSRO website


Contributing Organizations

SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry

WVU Department of Geology and Geography

WV GIS Tech Center

WV School of Osteopathic Medicine, Center for Rural and Community Health

WV State Resiliency Office

WVU Land Use and Sustainable Development Law Clinic

West Virginia Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster (WV VOAD)

Meadow River Valley Association (MRVA)

Greenbrier County Homeland Security & Emergency Management


Team Members

Jamie Shinn, PhD

SUNY Environmental Science and Forestry

Assistant Professor

Principal Investigator

Moriah Taft

West Virginia University

Office of Research Program Management

Project Manager

Julian Levine, MSW

WV School of Osteopathic Medicine

Center for Rural Community Health

Director of Engagement & Outreach

Co-Principal Investigator

Aaron Maxwell, PhD

WVU Geology & Geography/WV GIS Tech Center

Assistant Professor/Faculty Director

Co-Principal Investigator

Kurt Donaldson, GISP

WV GIS Tech Center

Senior Project Manager

Katherine Garvey

WVU Land Use and Sustainability Law Clinic

Director

Robert Martin, Jr

WV State Resiliency Office

Director

Edwin Martin

WV State Resiliency Office

Deputy Director

Dave Lumsden

Meadow River Valley Association

Vice President

Dara Vance

Meadow River Valley Association

Jenny Gannaway

WV Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster

Executive Director

Paula Brown

Greenbrier County

Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Management

Executive Director

Behrang Bidadian, PhD

WV GIS Tech Center

Research Associate/GIS Analyst

Yibing Han

WV GIS Tech Center

GIS Developer/Programmer

Eric Hopkins, GISP

WV GIS Tech Center

GIS Analyst

Shannon Maynard

WV GIS Tech Center

GIS Analyst

Jared Anderson, AICP

WVU Land Use and Sustainability Law Clinic

Land Use Attorney

Whitney Wright, AICP

WVU Land Use and Sustainability Law Clinic

Clinician

Andrea Cass

SUNY Environmental Science and Forestry

Graduate Research Assistant

Annie Mahmoudi

WV GIS Tech Center

Graduate Research Assistant

Sara Lusher

WV GIS Tech Center

Graduate Research Assistant

Meagan Walker

WV GIS Tech Center

Graduate Research Assistant


© 2024 wvfrf@mail.wvu.edu