Photo by Joselyn King Kathy James, left, and April Villers of Williams Energy volunteer at a temporary station outside the Triadelphia United Methodist Church that is assisting flood victims.

TRIADELPHIA — The Triadelphia community is finding ways to take care of itself and find new life after June 14 flooding — but residents really would appreciate some financial help from the U.S. government.

Nearly a month after the flash flood emergency hit Triadelphia and nearby Valley Grove, flood recovery and clean-up there has transitioned into the rebuilding of a community. And those living in decimated neighborhoods now await President Donald Trump to approve a federal disaster declaration that could get them the funding to help build back their homes and communities and replace washed out bridges.

Meanwhile, some residents just may be looking to homes found elsewhere.

Triadelphia resident Amy Jo Hutchison — also a campaign organizer in West Virginia for MomsRising.org — knows she is one of the lucky ones. Flood waters only came into her yard. close to her home.

But it didn’t spare the properties of her neighbors.

“I stood on my porch and watched everybody lose everything.” she said.

Hutchison is now overseeing a temporary station outside the Triadelphia United Methodist Church that is assisting those affected by flooding. Volunteers there began by tending to the immediate needs of flood victims, who are now they are wanting to help them resume normal lives.

“It has been a steady stream of folks coming out here to the church needing everything from cleaning supplies to help finding electricians so they can get power turned back on,” Hutchison said. “We’ve kind of become a hub that has forms for school clothing vouchers and help from the Lions Club.

“We are starting to transition out of the need for cleaning supplies. We’re trying to figure out what is next as people have big needs like drywall and all that stuff, and we’re just not getting any help from the government. It seems we’re moving into the rebuilding phase. The big needs are going to be things like furnaces, hot water heaters and kitchen appliances.”

Hutchison and the other organizers haven’t yet been asking for help with obtaining large-size items and appliances because they haven’t had a place to store them.

“If we were to get 50 sheets of drywall, where would we put them?” she asked. “We’re still trying to figure that out.

For the time being, volunteers are beginning to move some items being kept inside the church into storage trucks to clear out more space, according to Hutchison.

She suggested gift cards to local home improvement stores would be a welcome donation to flood victims at this time.

“Now that the mud is out, what move is next?” Hutchison asked. “There have been a lot of people who’ve said they are moving (out of Triadelphia) because they don’t want to go through this again.

“It will never look the same. Just driving up the road and seeing where houses used to sit, it is just different here now. It’s so quiet at night. The traffic on Route 40 isn’t what it used to be. There are just wild, subtle differences you wouldn’t notice unless you lived here.”

As communities await the disaster declaration and financial assistance from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), Hutchison remains positive.

“I think we’ve done a really good job of contacting our governor, our senators and our congressman, Riley Moore (R-West Virginia),” she said. “They are actually calling people back because there has been such an outpouring of people calling for help for us.

“I was blown away by that. I do a lot of work with legislators, and I’ve never known them to call people back. It’s been wild.”

Those speaking with elected officials have uniformly been told “the declaration is on the president’s desk,” and that they have signed on to a letter asking him to approve it, according to Hutchison.

In light of flooding in Texas and New Mexico where more lives were lost and more property destroyed, Hutchison admits it is getting more difficult to keep West Virginia losses in the spotlight.

“It’s getting harder every day,” she said. “We didn’t get a lot of national news coverage. That is part of the problem.

“We’ve had so many disasters happen back to back. They are just happening one right after another.”

Dottie Folmar of Elm Grove also has been assisting at the temporary flood relief station in Triadelphia.

“We need people in the state and federal government who care about us,” she said. “Why are we not as good as Texas? Is it just because we’re small communities? We have votes, but Texas has more so they get more coverage than us.

“If (former independent U.S. Senator) Joe Manchin would have been in there, that thing (the declaration) would have been signed right away.”

She suggested officials need to come to Ohio County and see the devastation.

“Things are getting cleaned up, but it’s because people are taking it upon themselves to spend money they don’t have to clean up their houses,” Folmar said.

She reports that, in the days following the flood, the local volunteers were providing meals to victims staying in local hotels. About 40 meals went to each of five hotels, for a total of 200 meals each day.

In total, 800 to 1,200 meals each day were being served at the temporary flood relief station or being delivered to residents in the community who couldn’t get there.

“And those were paid for through private donations. It wasn’t the Red Cross,” Hutchison added. “It was just people coming in with their grills and buying the supplies.

“This church hub has truly been run by the community.”

Food has come from grocery stores and businesses on both sides of the river. Even families who had extra food left over from funerals and other events contributed it to the relief center.

Local hardware stores have contributed needed non-food supplies — from cordless drills to hair dryers, Hutchison and Folmar said.

“I expected some, but I didn’t expect the amount of people who have been donating. It’s been amazing,” Folmar continued. “We’re very thankful for everything people have given us.”