Insurance

West Virginia Will Finally Study How to Protect Communities After 2016 Floods

Practically a decade after the lethal 2016 floods, West Virginia officers are transferring ahead with a research to take a look at flood mitigation measures throughout the Kanawha River Basin.

Final month, Gov. Patrick Morrisey announced that the state will work with the U.S. Military Corp of Engineers on a research that totally examines flood threat administration methods throughout 20 West Virginia counties, most of which had been impacted by the June 2016 floods.

Morrisey’s announcement comes almost 4 years after the research was initially funded by the federal authorities.

West Virginia Sen. Shelley Moore Capito requested the research in 2016, following the lethal flooding that swept throughout the state and left 23 useless. Federal funding for the undertaking was later secured within the 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Legislation.

However these kind of research require the state and federal authorities to separate the price equally. And the state didn’t put ahead its $1.5 million share for the research till final month, indicated by Morrisey’s July announcement.

Along with the cash for the Kanawha River Basin research, the governor’s workplace additionally put $1.5 million towards the Higher Guyandotte Flood Research. That research will take a look at the flood threat and attainable mitigation measures throughout Wyoming County and elements of Raleigh, that are particularly weak to flooding.

These two studies are the primary main investments in a number of years by state leaders to handle the rising risk of flooding, underscoring the state’s sluggish progress in tackling this concern.

Securing the funding spanned two Governors’ administrations, in response to Morrisey spokesperson Drew Galang. He mentioned after the Legislature allotted funds, Gov. Jim Justice’s administration labored on it and the Morrisey administration decided the ultimate quantity.

A spokesperson for Justice, who’s now a U.S. senator, didn’t reply to questions.

West Virginia’s mountainous terrain and 1000’s of rivers and creeks — together with decades of strip mining and timbering — make the state particularly weak to flooding. That is more likely to solely worsen as local weather change continues to extend the chance. And with an growing frequency of floods, mitigation efforts are essential to minimize the harm brought on by them.

However it’ll possible be awhile earlier than any initiatives stemming from the 2 research are executed. Each research are anticipated to take three years, and there’s no assure funding for any potential initiatives will likely be instantly obtainable.

Capito did ensure that any undertaking that comes out of the research of the Kanawha River Basin will solely require a ten% state match — lower than the standard 35%. The remainder will likely be coated by the federal authorities.

The governor’s workplace is presently engaged on different flood mitigation initiatives within the state, together with warning methods, enhancing drain methods and constructing and repairing culverts, mentioned Galang.

“Governor Morrisey is dedicated to defending West Virginians from floods and all choices are on the desk to finest stop and mitigate these disasters,” he mentioned.

A lot of Plans, No Funding

In 2004, after a long time of devastating floods, West Virginia officers drew up a flood protection plan that proposed a number of actions, together with strategies on floodplain and wastewater administration in addition to improved constructing codes and flood warning methods. Nevertheless it was by no means carried out by state companies.

Lawmakers revisited that plan within the aftermath of the 2016 floods and ultimately tasked the State Resiliency Workplace, which they created in 2017, with updating the plan.

In 2023, the Legislature designated a particular belief fund to assist the workplace shield communities, particularly these with low-income households, from flooding in addition to to implement suggestions from its up to date state flood plan, which the workplace accomplished in June 2024.

However lawmakers have by no means allotted cash to that fund.

Robert Martin, director of the State Resiliency Workplace, told a legislative committee in December 2023 that there have been “most likely initiatives proper now we’d have the ability to execute if we had what we had been seeking to do both with federal or state {dollars}.”

In his remaining budget proposal as governor final 12 months, Justice asked the Legislature for $50 million for the flood resiliency fund. However as lawmakers hammered out the funds, they rejected Justice’s request, leaving the fund empty once more.

As of final November, the workplace was nonetheless seeking to safe funding.

Morrisey didn’t propose any funding for the belief in his funds earlier this 12 months, simply days earlier than flooding within the southern coalfields. And the Legislature voted down an try so as to add cash to the belief throughout the legislative session.

Between 2005 and 2024, West Virginia skilled almost 2,300 floods occasions, costing $342 million in property harm, in response to information from the Nationwide Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s storm occasions database. Nevertheless, harm from smaller-scale floods is commonly underreported, so the precise value could also be a lot larger.

Practically 200,000 West Virginians reside in a high-risk flood zone, in response to the West Virginia Flood Resiliency Framework created by researchers at West Virginia College.

By their work, researchers found that the state has no long-term flood restoration plan, which has induced West Virginia’s flooding response to be inefficient.

WVU researchers additionally discovered of the almost 100,000 buildings positioned in high-risk flood zones, a bit greater than 500 of them are thought-about important. This consists of hearth and police stations, faculties, hospitals and nursing properties.

However these findings are based mostly on information that specialists say underreports the dangers.

West Virginia researchers used information and flood maps from the Federal Emergency Administration Company. Whereas useful, lately, specialists have been essential of the federal maps, saying that they’re usually incomplete or old-fashioned and don’t account for the best way rain strikes and swimming pools as soon as it falls.

Whereas FEMA’s flood maps account for primary river channels and coastal storm surge areas, they don’t mannequin heavy rainfall — which is commonly the trigger for flooding in West Virginia.

Underneath the federal maps, a bit greater than 9% of properties within the state are thought-about inside the company’s Particular Flood Hazard Areas.

However underneath mapping by First Road Basis, a nonprofit that research flood threat, that tries to fill within the gaps left by FEMA, one-third of the properties within the state are vulnerable to flooding.

Picture: Wreckage left from the 2016 flooding in White Sulphur Springs. (AP File Picture/Steve Helber)

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This story was initially printed by Mountain State Spotlight and distributed by means of a partnership with The Related Press. Reporting by Sarah Elbeshbishi.

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Tour Bus Rollover Kills 5 on Highway in Western New York

A tour bus returning to New York Metropolis from Niagara Falls with 54 folks aboard crashed and rolled on its facet Friday on an interstate freeway, killing 5 passengers and injuring many others, authorities stated.

The motive force apparently grew to become distracted, misplaced management and overcorrected earlier than the bus went into the proper shoulder and flipped over shortly earlier than 12:30 p.m. on the eastbound facet of Interstate 90 in Pembroke, New York, about 25 miles (40 kilometers) east of Buffalo, state police Maj. Andre Ray stated at a night information convention. He didn’t say how the driving force grew to become distracted, including that the trigger stays beneath investigation.

Ray stated the passengers ranged in age from 1 to 74. A number of folks had been ejected from the bus throughout the crash, and 5 folks — all adults — had been pronounced useless on the scene, Ray stated. Many others grew to become entrapped within the wreck and had been rescued. Dozens had been taken to hospitals. Ray stated it didn’t seem some other folks had life-threatening accidents.

“An absolute tragedy came about,” Ray stated. “And at the beginning, our ideas, prayers and hearts exit to these concerned, their associates and their households.”

State police stated a lot of the passengers on the bus had been of Indian, Chinese language and Filipino ethnicity, and authorities introduced in translators to assist with the emergency response.

Ray stated a preliminary investigation dominated out mechanical failure or driver impairment. The motive force survived the crash and was cooperating with police, officers stated. No expenses had been filed as of Friday night, Ray stated.

The Nationwide Transportation Security Board stated it was sending a workforce to New York to analyze the crash.

The Mercy Flight medical transport service stated its three helicopters and three extra from different providers transported folks from the crash website. Hospitals within the area stated they evaluated or handled greater than 40 folks. Accidents ranged from head trauma to damaged legs and arms.

Two individuals who wanted surgical procedure at Erie County Medical Heart in Buffalo had been anticipated to get well, stated Dr. Jeffrey Brewer, chief of surgical procedure.

Staten Island Firm

State police stated the bus was owned by M&Y Tour Inc. within the New York Metropolis borough of Staten Island. A message searching for remark was left at a cellphone itemizing for the corporate.

M&Y Tour has a “passable” security score and no file of accidents or fatalities over the previous two years, based on the Federal Motor Provider Security Administration. Officers inspected the corporate’s buses and drivers 60 instances over the previous two years, the company stated.

At an earlier information convention, Trooper James O’Callaghan stated it appeared most individuals on the bus weren’t sporting seat belts.

In response to a different bus crash in New York in 2023, a state legislation requires seat belt use on constitution buses constructed on or after Nov. 28, 2016. The age of the bus in Friday’s crash wasn’t instantly identified.

The New York State Thruway Authority stated a prolonged stretch of the roadway had been shut down in each instructions and drivers had been being urged to keep away from the realm. The westbound lanes had been reopened later within the day.

Individuals who noticed the aftermath of the wreck stated glass and folks’s belongings had been scattered on the freeway.

“It was definitely heartbreaking to see,” Powell Stephens, of Medina, advised WHAM-TV after he drove by the crash. “There was lots of people embracing one another. It seemed like folks had been breaking down.”

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul referred to as the accident a tragedy in a publish on the social platform X. She stated she was briefed on the crash and that her workplace was working with police and native officers.

“Our hearts are with their family members throughout this tough time,” the governor stated of the victims.

Photograph: First responders work to rescue victims on the scene of a tour bus that crashed and rolled over on the New York State Thruway close to Pembroke, N.Y., Friday, Aug. 22, 2025. (Libby March/Buffalo Information through AP)

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Missouri’s Mutual Insurance Companies Report Stronger Results in 2024

The Missouri Division of Commerce and Insurance coverage (DCI) introduced the state’s mutual insurance coverage firms reported a substantial discount in web losses from $17.7 million in 2023 to simply $4.8 million in 2024.

In 2024, mutuals managed 205,000 insurance policies representing greater than $61 billion in gross in-force protection, based on DCI.

DCI accepted the Missouri Mutual Insurers Captive, a collaborative reinsurance pool, which started operations in late 2023, after many taking part metals may now not depend on a Wisconsin reinsurance supplier. With out the approval of Missouri Mutual Insurers Captive, quite a few mutuals would have probably confronted mergers or closures as a result of shortage of accessible reinsurance, the division mentioned.

Each mutual that participated within the pool reported a revenue in 2024. These mutuals generated a web revenue of $4.8 million on $51.8 million in direct premiums.

“I’m happy to see the pool’s outcomes, in mild of this yr’s extreme climate occasions, and imagine it can play an vital function in preserving this important market section that serves Missouri’s farmers and rural communities sooner or later,” mentioned DCI Director Angela Nelson.

The pool’s membership has additionally expanded in 2025, rising from 18 to 21 mutual members, representing almost one-third of the state’s 65 licensed mutuals.

Supply: DCI

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Two Workers Sue Over New York City Legionnaires’ Disease Outbreak

Two building employees who contracted Legionnaires’ illness whereas working at a web site in New York Metropolis have filed lawsuits in opposition to two building administration companies they allege ought to be held answerable for the office circumstances that precipitated them to contract the illness.

Nunzio Quinto and Duane Headley have been hospitalized in July after contracting the illness whereas engaged on separate initiatives close to a big complicated that included Harlem Hospital and retail models. The town’s Legionnaires’ illness outbreak has been linked to cooling towers within the complicated that use water and a fan to chill buildings.

The micro organism that causes Legionnaires’ illness had been found in 12 cooling towers on 10 buildings. Remediation efforts have been undertaken within the towers

There have been 4 deaths, greater than 100 recognized instances, and greater than 17 folks hospitalized on account of the outbreak, in accordance with town.

The lawsuits have been introduced in opposition to building administration companies Rising Solar Development and Skanska USA Constructing that employed the subcontractors. Quinto and Headley allege the development companies didn’t take cheap steps to appropriate the circumstances to make their office protected and so they declare the companies are strictly liable for his or her accidents beneath New York’s labor regulation.

Weitz & Luxenberg, the regulation agency of nationally-known civil rights and private damage lawyer Ben Crump, is representing the plaintiffs.

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