Symposium: Building Flooding Resiliency in West Virginia Communities

This symposium has alredy been held and is now completed.

Background

West Virginia has by some measures the highest flood risk among all 50 states. While catastrophic flooding events like the one that occurred in 2016 attract significant state and national attention, smaller floods occur several times each year and also pose risks. Flooding can push families and communities to the brink and past their ability to recover. Resiliency, or the ability of families and communities to withstand and mitigate the stress of a disaster, is a key factor in recovery.

Our team– including community members, professionals in disaster preparation and recovery, and researchers from West Virginia University, State University of New York, and West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine– is developing tools to support community flood resiliency. Our project, including this symposium, is funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF). Our overall goal is to create the West Virginia Flood Resiliency Framework (WVFRF): a freely available online resource containing materials to support residents, local leaders, non-profits, and state officials in their efforts to increase flood resiliency. This symposium is a major component of building the framework.

Symposium Goals

This event brought together and strengthen the network of people working on flood-related issues at all levels, from the community to the state. Symposium attendees took part in a scenario-based tabletop exercise and other activities in order to:

1. Gain a common understanding of who the main players are and the capabilities they provide before, during, and after a flood;
2. Have a better understanding of how participants and their organizations can coordinate their efforts in each phase of a disaster;
3. Identify barriers to coordination between agencies and organizations;
4. Identify those considerations that contribute to or detract from individual and/or community resiliency;

Agenda

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