Rainelle, W. Va., has the look, the smell and the sounds of a town in recovery mode. Along with household and business contents, drywall, insulation and ductwork lay on sidewalks, the aroma of bleach and other cleaning agents waft through the air over the other smells of mud and mold, and the beeping of dump trucks loaded with debris backing up streets mixes in with the traffic, now returning to normal nearly three weeks after a devastating flash flood that took lives, property and the sense of security from many residents.
Coralis Rodriguez and Erin Peterson walked down Fifth Street to talk to residents, most of whom had already registered with FEMA.
Double-checking, though, is part of the job.
Rodriguez signed up for the volunteer job when she heard about it on the news in Puerto Rico.
"I got interested, got more information and here I am," she said. "It's been pretty interesting and rewarding."
She and Peterson were trained in California, then deployed to Louisiana. They were headed to Alabama when West Virginia was hit by flooding and were detoured to Greenbrier County.
Peterson is interested in an Emergency Management career, and with a relative in FEMA's planning division, "get a feel for the work."
"I thought this would be a great opportunity for me to get my feet in the door," she said.
Renee Bafalis, FEMA Media Relations Specialist, said the volunteer program is akin to AmeriCorps. FEMA volunteers are deployed for 18 months and earn an $8,000 stipend when that time is up. The money can be used for college, Bafalis said.
"They're really a wonderful asset because it gives us more personnel to get out on the ground," she said.
The volunteers are housed in Eastern Greenbrier Middle School, sleeping on cots.
"At first they're a little creaky, but you get used to them," Peterson said.
Rainelle residents who haven't yet registered, and even those that have, are directed to visit the FEMA Recovery Center, set up inside Rainelle City Hall.
FEMA's Jan Freemond is managing the center. She said it is information central for all kinds of questions about FEMA and how it can and will help flood survivors.
She points out the Small Business Administration team, where not only businesses, but also residents can sign up for low-interest loans, and the FEMA team members who can answer any and all questions, including how to get help from volunteer agencies.
Once residents are registered, they should stay in contact with the Recovery Center so they can check their status and even appeal a FEMA grant award if they discover they have more damage than they originally thought.
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Freemond said, for example, if flooded residents first believed their furnaces were merely damaged and only needed serviced and cleaned, they would get a lesser amount. But if in the process they discover the furnace is completely destroyed, they can fill out a one-page appeal form to receive more money.
"The first estimate is not final at all," she said. "A big part of what we do here is appeals. We will help you."
Property owners and residents are eligible for up to $33,000 in grants that compensate for flood damage. The money can be used for anything from rent to replacement costs, but qualifying for the maximum amount is generally not attainable.
"It's very rare that folks get the maximum grant," said Bafalis.
According to Darrell Blankenship, who was flooded near the Meadow River in Rupert and at his girlfriend's house on 7th Street in Rainelle, FEMA has helped him.
Blankenship said he had just received a check for the contents of his trailer in Rupert, but had to appeal for the mobile home because he didn't use a physical address.
(When Blankenship spoke with The Register-Herald two days after the flood, he said he hadn't been able to find his three dogs, Lucky, Kiki and Hardhead. He said Tuesday Lucky and Kiki had survived by slipping their collars, but Hardhead had not.)
But at Fruits of Labor Café and Bakery, Tammy Jordan said she got a referral for an SBA loan.
"I'll probably apply, but additional loans aren't going to be very helpful right now," she said.
Jordan said the café and bakery's restaurant equipment was a total loss, but she is persevering, cleaning, painting and donating what she can to another non-profit organization, Wellspring in Rupert.
"I've been working every single day since the flood," she said. "We're trying to get our extra things to Wellspring so they can get it to families."
She's an example of many flood survivors said George Medley, FEMA Community Relations Specialist. Compassion for others during and after a disaster "becomes very normal for people."
"When disaster strikes, people seem to step up," he said. "They couldn't care less what the other person's color, race, creed or social standing is."
Medley said it's often people "you would think would never do anything for someone else."
"They do it and never speak of it. You have to drag it out of them," he said. "Here are these people who lived through it and in the middle of it, they're heroes."
— Email: ppritt@register-herald.com Follow PamPrittRH on Twitter
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