{"id":1018140,"date":"2023-03-08T11:45:00","date_gmt":"2023-03-08T11:45:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/grist.org\/?p=603463"},"modified":"2023-03-08T11:45:00","modified_gmt":"2023-03-08T11:45:00","slug":"how-disaster-relief-leaves-kentuckys-landslide-victims-behind","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2023\/03\/08\/how-disaster-relief-leaves-kentuckys-landslide-victims-behind\/","title":{"rendered":"How disaster relief leaves Kentucky\u2019s landslide victims behind"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This story was published in collaboration with The Bitter Southerner<\/a> and the Economic Hardship Reporting Project<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Well past midnight on July 28, 2022, 12-year-old Kaleigh Baker tiptoed into her mom’s room and rustled her awake. \u201cMommy, the house shook,\u201d Kaleigh said.<\/p>\n

Linda Baker, still groggy, heard only the air conditioner\u2019s whirr. She told Kaleigh it was probably just thunder. Kaleigh crept back upstairs. Minutes later, Linda heard a deluge of water. From the back door, she saw rain pounding down on a wall of mud almost 8 feet tall that had slammed against their home\u2019s vinyl siding. Linda recognized the disaster: another landslide.<\/p>\n

Linda raced to round up Kaleigh, 16-year-old son Ian, and the dogs. By 2:30 a.m., they\u2019d thrown essentials into bags and fled toward Hazard, the county seat roughly 10 miles away. But the North Fork of the Kentucky River had flooded the road like a burst pipe. Water swept over the hood of the car and pushed the vehicle toward the river raging below.<\/p>\n

Linda floored her car in reverse and, once clear, slowly retreated. Before they lost cell service, Kaleigh texted a friend, \u201cI think I\u2019m going to die tonight.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n

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Over a year earlier, another landslide had landed at the Bakers\u2019 back door in the middle of the night, threatening to knock the house off its foundation.<\/p> \n

The landslide was stabilized by private contractors in the summer of 2022, but unprecedented flash flooding across eastern Kentucky on the morning of July 28 triggered the property\u2019s second slide. While flooding is Kentucky\u2019s most frequent and costly natural disaster, landslides \u2014 typically triggered by rainfall \u2014 follow close behind.<\/p>\n

The narrow valleys and steep ridgelines of eastern Kentucky, dotted by private homes and businesses, are prime real estate for slips and slides. Landslide damage to roads, infrastructure, and buildings costs the state up to $20 million annually. The conservative estimate doesn\u2019t include indirect costs such as road closures, utility interruption, and decreasing property values. Climate change is becoming a prime culprit, bringing more frequent and intense rainstorms to the Southeast, triggering more floods and more landslides. <\/p>\n

Across the region, at least 43 people died as a result of the five-day flooding event, during which 14 to 16 inches of rain fell over eastern Kentucky. \u201cWe\u2019ve had a lot more rainfall in the last seven years than I\u2019ve seen in my lifetime,” said Matthew Wireman, judge executive for Magoffin County, near Perry County, where the Bakers live. “It\u2019s like the Amazon rainforest up here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some of the hardest-hit areas saw more than 10 inches of rain during the 24-hour period from July 27 to July 28, when the Bakers\u2019 slide occurred. By November, the region had received more than $160 million in federal grants, loans, and flood insurance. But the Bakers, who\u2019d almost lost their home for a second time in two years, would see very little of that assistance.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n

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Because standard homeowners insurance doesn\u2019t cover \u201cearth movement\u201d \u2014 mudslides, mudflows, floods, earthquakes, or landslides \u2014 the Bakers\u2019 insurance agent, State Farm, denied the family coverage in 2021 and 2022.<\/p>\n

While mudflows and floods can be covered through the Federal Emergency Management Agency\u2019s National Flood Insurance Program, insurance for mudslides and landslides remains elusive. The only way to insure against landslides is through a little-known policy called \u201cDifference in Conditions,\u201d sold by a surplus line insurer and typically purchased by business owners.<\/p>\n

Bill Haneberg, Kentucky\u2019s state geologist and director of the Kentucky Geological Survey, said one of the problems with landslide insurance is the function of all insurance: It\u2019s communal. Car insurance works because a bunch of safe drivers have to buy it, funding the payout when unsafe drivers have a wreck. For landslide insurance to work, it would need to be sold to a lot of people who are very unlikely to see a landslide impact their home or business.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe likelihood of an insurance product that\u2019s meaningful for people living in landslide-prone areas is in the distant future,” said Jeff Keaton, geologist at the environmental consulting firm WSP USA.<\/p>\n

In theory, landslides could be insured like earthquakes, a separate hazard insurance that exists because engineers created earthquake-resistant structures and building codes. But there is no basis for measuring the performance of buildings exposed to landslides, so insurers can\u2019t forecast losses.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you give me a ZIP code, in a couple mouse clicks I can tell you the level of earthquake hazard,” Keaton said. “We need that for landslides.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n

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After the 2021 landslide, Linda Baker appealed to Kentucky\u2019s Abandoned Mine Lands office, citing an old coal mine perched about 150 yards above the house, and to her congressional representative, Hal Rogers, a Republican serving his 21st term. Both denied the family assistance. While FEMA doesn\u2019t typically cover landslides, the agency provided $34,000 for home damages to the Bakers in 2021.<\/p>\n

In 2022, FEMA viewed the Bakers\u2019 damages twice, in person and on FaceTime, but denied the family assistance, stating that the Bakers had \u201creceived all eligible assistance for this type of loss,\u201d which included $2,700 for food, temporary housing, and repairs.<\/p>\n

They appealed immediately, but, as of late January, they had yet to hear back.<\/p>\n

The last option for the Bakers is Small Business Administration loans. In 2021, they borrowed roughly $69,000 and took out a second mortgage. In 2022, they borrowed $25,000, narrowly avoiding a third mortgage. They\u2019d bought their house just three years earlier for $136,000. Today, the loans have nearly eclipsed their mortgage.<\/p>\n

Counties also struggle to fund repairs. In December, Matthew Wireman, the Magoffin County judge executive, was pinching pennies to make payroll after trying to fix four years\u2019 worth of landslides:<\/p>\n

A 2021 study found more than 1,000 landslides in Magoffin alone, a county with the highest unemployment rate in the state.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d just like to see the funding [for landslides] a lot quicker,” Wireman said. “Taxpayers are having to pay for all of this upfront, and it\u2019s a burden on our citizens.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hoping to ease the burden, the Kentucky Geological Survey began mapping landslides across the eastern half of the state. New data \u2014 free, publicly available maps of landslide susceptibility across five counties \u2014 was released this summer, right after the July floods. Haneberg\u2019s January report discovered 1,000 new landslides and debris flows in areas most affected by the July floods.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe wanted to make sure that information was available, because we knew there\u2019d be a lot of landslides,\u201d Bill Haneberg said.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n

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Last summer, when the second landslide hit their house, the Bakers lived with relatives for more than 10 days. They lost electricity for a week, and water for two. Neighbors donated heavy equipment for the initial cleanup so they could re-enter their home.<\/p>\n

For weeks, plywood covered the window where Ian slept. The Small Business Administration told the Bakers it was swamped for requests for assistance. Today, the mountain behind the Bakers\u2019 house has been half-sheared of forest. A bare limestone wall guards the family\u2019s back door like a small quarry, its ledge lined with thin saplings.<\/p>\n

The Bakers once considered a relocation program available through the Small Business Administration, but Linda said that it would be challenging to relocate because it\u2019s already so difficult to find a house in eastern Kentucky. Linda\u2019s husband, Randy, has considered London, a larger town about an hour west, but they don\u2019t want to move before Ian finishes high school, where he loves playing in the band.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs long as this holds, we\u2019re going to stay,” said Linda Baker. “We\u2019ve got too much money in it. Nobody’s going to buy it for what we’ve got into it. We’re pretty well stuck.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n

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This story was written by Austyn Gaffney and illustrated by Martha Park. It was edited by Rachel Priest with assistance from Teresa Chin, John Thomason, David Wallis, and Dave Whitling. Megan Merrigan and Angelica Arinze handled promotion. Jason Castro handled development. Copy edits by Lisa Axelberg.<\/i><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

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