As we’ve chronicled over the past three weeks, the devastation to the Valley Grove and Triadelphia communities reaches the level of a federal disaster declaration.

Consider:

– A total of nine lives lost.

– Three dozen homes swept away in the flooding or damaged to the point they’re not repairable.

– Another 100-plus homes damaged.

– Six dozen cars destroyed.

– Roads damaged or destroyed.

– Lives forever altered.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency and other federal offices continue to have representatives on the ground here in Ohio County assessing the damage. It is now up to President Donald Trump to issue a federal disaster declaration for the area. We urge him to do that as soon as possible.

A presidential disaster declaration would unlock FEMA funding relief for both damaged infrastructure and private property losses.

“FEMA is looking at our numbers so they can say, ‘Mr. President, they’re right,'” said Lou Vargo, director of Ohio County Homeland Security and EMA. “That’s what he’s going to base his declaration on. This is the next step — it’s one step closer to getting a declaration. But it’s a slow process, but it’s going to be well worth it when we get it.”

The time in which a federal disaster declaration is issued can vary, as recent flooding events show. When flooding devastated the town of Clendenin, West Virginia and surrounding areas in 2016, a federal disaster declaration came in days. The federal declaration for the 2024 flooding in North Carolina also came in days. This weekend marks three weeks since the June 14 flooding here in Ohio County.

One of the agencies on the ground here locally has been the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

“This is the kind of thing where the federal government needs to come in early and talk to people that are on the ground, having the conversations and actually seeing the devastation first-hand,” said Joe DeFelice, assistant deputy secretary of HUD’s Office of Field Policy & Management, based in Philadelphia. “We want to get our federal eyes on this so that we can take this conversation back so it doesn’t get lost in the shuffle. The fastest way to get this stuff taken care of out of Washington is to be on the ground.”

That’s good. We hope the president acts soon, as the need in these communities and for those affected is real.