Dunloup Creek Voluntary Floodplain Buyout Program Open Application Period

MORGANTOWN, WV, May 29, 2009 —The USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) is working with the Dunloup Creek Watershed Association on the Dunloup Creek Voluntary Floodplain Buyout Program. The program is a voluntary buyout for threatened properties within the 100-year floodplain. Homes, buildings, and other facilities will be removed to restore the floodplain to more natural conditions. Other sponsoring agencies are the West Virginia State Conservation Committee, Fayette County Commission, City of Mount Hope, and the Southern Conservation District.

The program is open to any landowner that has at least a portion of their property within the 100 year floodplain of Dunloup Creek as defined by NRCS mapping, and owned the property on or before January 1, 2006. If the property was purchased after January 1, 2006, owners may be eligible for the buyout, but the offer will not exceed the purchase price of the property.

Applications will be accepted from June 10, 2009 to September 1, 2009. Affected landowners may apply at the Beckley Service Center, 465 Ragland Road, Beckley, WV, 25801. For information concerning this program, please call 304-255-9225, ext. 138. The application is an expression of interest in the program, not a financial commitment for either party. Interested persons should apply promptly.

The project will be implemented in phases as funding is received. Through the efforts of Senator Robert C. Byrd, D-WV, the NRCS has received $1.146 million dollars to begin the project. The State of West Virginia, through the West Virginia Conservation Committee, is providing the non-federal funding match. The total cost of the project is anticipated to be $14 million.

Planning for the Dunloup Creek Watershed was re-initiated in 1995 in response to repeated flooding to the communities of Kilsyth, Mount Hope, Glen Jean, Red Star, Harvey, and other settlements along Dunloup Creek. The project was planned under the authority of the Watershed Protection and Flood Prevention Act (PL-93-566, as amended). Approximately 290 properties and associated infrastructure have suffered repeated flooding––with two devastating floods in 2001 and 2004. Measures such as dams, channels, floodwalls, dredging, and floodproofing were evaluated in an effort to find a solution to the flooding. The most cost-effective and feasible option for the communities is a voluntary floodplain buyout.

Flood damages will be reduced 100 percent for those property owners that participate in the voluntary buyout and relocate outside of the floodplain. There are incalculable benefits to reducing risk to life and property, improving the quality of life to a distressed community, and restoring environmental integrity to the natural floodplain.

“The availability of this initial round of funding will begin the arduous process of relocating families to safer accommodations,” said Senator Byrd. “As we have already seen in other parts of West Virginia this past month, flooding can cause terrible damage to homes and property and disrupt many peoples’ lives. The families living along Dunloup Creek know only too well the devastation flooding can cause. So I encourage all those who live in the affected areas to begin applying for federal funding as it becomes available.”

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