A provision has been requested that would waive the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s state-local match requirement for debris removal and lowering the twenty-five percent state-local match to ten percent for infrastructure repair for the May 3, 2009, federally declared disaster in West Virginia. 

Mountain run-off contributed substantially to this most recent disaster, flooding areas that are not normally prone to such destruction.  This unique set of circumstances caused insurmountable damage to homes, private bridges, roads and other infrastructure, in an area of the state that already leads the nation in economic disparity with high unemployment, high disability, and high poverty rates.  This provision would enable the state to address other critical unmet flood recovery requirements.