CHARLESTON, W.Va. –
West Virginia National Guard's Adjutant General, Maj. Gen. James Hoyer, issues the following update on RISE West Virginia's case management status:
Work continues on the two stick-built home reconstruction projects underway through the RISE West Virginia program as crews with Appalachia Service Project (ASP) continue to battle excessive rain and saturated grounds. For both projects in Nicholas and Kanawha counties, crews are completing all interior work and will move to installation of the septic system and activation of utilities once the weather allows.
Within the next three weeks, an additional project in Nicholas County is awaiting utility shutoff before crews can move forward with demolition. Crews are hoping to utilize the time before utility shutoff to conduct asbestos abatement and any other construction needs before demolition begins.
In addition to these three projects, 12 other mobile home unit and reconstruction projects are at varying points in the construction process in Clay, Greenbrier, Nicholas, Kanawha and Webster Counties, for a total of 15 projects in various stages of construction in the RISE West Virginia program.
There were 10 initial sight visits conducted this week with contractors. These initial site visits are the first step in the construction process for families in the RISE West Virginia program. Moving forward, crews will work to determine any outstanding needs such as asbestos, septic or well issues, before demolition of the existing home on the property or to begin reconstruction efforts.
The number of completed cases remains at 44 this week, while the number of outstanding homeowner cases remains at 405. A breakdown of the nature of those cases is as follows: 170 cases require total reconstruction, 153 cases require some form of rehabilitation, and 82 cases require new mobile home unit replacement.
WV VOAD's team also continues to connect with all homeowners in the RISE WV program, as case managers placed 275 calls to clients this week, with an additional 20 calls per day, on average, coming into the office.
We remain active in the process of identifying families who are living in the worst conditions. We encourage our partners in the media and general public to let us know if they identify people who are in severe need of assistance so we may follow up and help prioritize cases.
Any families who feel they still have any unmet needs or who are looking for an update on their case are urged to contact the new VOAD office over the phone at 304-553-0927 or through email at DisasterRecovery@wv.gov. A hotline is also available for anyone needing to report fraud with regard to the RISE West Virginia program at 1-866-WVWATCH (1-866-989-2824).