Climate-Driven Flood Damage Threatens Towns Across US - NPR
Rainelle, W.Va., flooded in June 2016. Years later, the town still hasn't recovered. When large numbers of people don't have insurance or savings after a disaster, the effects can ripple through the community. Ryan Kellman/NPR hide caption toggle caption Ryan Kellman/NPR Pastor Aaron Trigg was at home when the water arrived in Rainelle. It had been raining hard all day, filling the creeks and rivers that run through southern West Virginia. In the past, such intense downpours would last only a few hours, but this storm brought wave after wave of torrential rain. "You could hear the water up in the mountains just crashing trees," Trigg remembers. Rainelle is a small town in a steep valley. When the creek near downtown jumped its banks on the evening of June 23, 2016, the water immediately flooded into every home on Trigg's block. Trigg's house was one-story tall, so there was nowhere to escape. He took shelter on the second floor of his neighbor...