HUD leaders get a closer look at McDowell County flood damage

MCDOWELL COUNTY, W.Va. (WVVA) - Officials with the United States Housing and Urban Development made stops in McDowell County on Thursday.

The purpose of the visit was to meet with county leaders and residents affected by last month’s severe flooding.

Joseph DeFelice, the Mid-Atlantic Regional Administrator for HUD visited Welch and Bradshaw among other areas to learn more about devastation and to bring back ideas to the federal government on how more help can be brought to the county.

One topic of discussions between county leaders and HUD leaders is the need for a public assistance declaration through the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Right now federal funding from FEMA is only available for individual assistance but county leaders say they need more.

DeFelice says he’s hoping to see how help can be expedited to the area. He insists HUD is going to do what they can to make public assistance happen for McDowell County.

Public assistance from FEMA provides supplemental grants to state, tribal, territorial, and local governments, and certain types of private non-profits so communities can quickly respond to and recover from major disasters or emergencies.

“We need to see what the status is with that. I’m going to go back and I’m going to talk with our team in community planning and development and talk with our secretary and if this needs to go even higher it will work through our secretary to get that,” said DeFelice. “That’s why I’m here, really I’m here on kind of a fact finding mission. It’s really to see what those unmet needs are.”

Representatives from U.S. Congresswoman Carol Miller and Congressman Riley Moore were also in McDowell County on Thursday. Also joining them were representatives from U.S. Senator Shelley Moore Capito’s office.

Copyright 2025 WVVA. All rights reserved.