West Virginia Code Chapter 29. Miscellaneous Boards and Officers § 29-31-2a. Definitions

As used in this article:

“Board” means the West Virginia State Resiliency Office Board created by this article;

“Code” means the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended;

“Community facilities” means a specific work, or improvement within this state or a specific item of equipment or tangible personal property owned or operated by any political subdivision or nonprofit corporation and used within this state to provide any essential service to the general public;

“Disaster” means the occurrence or imminent threat of widespread or severe damage, injury, or loss of life or property resulting from any natural, or terrorist, or man-made cause, including weapons of mass destruction, fire, flood, earthquake, wind, snow, storm, chemical or oil spill or other water or soil contamination, epidemic, air contamination, blight, drought, infestation or other public calamity requiring emergency action;

“Disaster recovery activities” means activities undertaken following a disaster to provide, or to participate in, the provision of long-term rehabilitation of infrastructure, housing, community facilities, and economic activity impacted by a disaster event;

“Flood Fund” means the West Virginia Flood Resiliency Trust Fund created by this article;

“Flood prevention or protection study” means the conduct of a hydraulic or hydrologic study of a flood plain with historic and predicted future floods, the assessment of current and projected future flood risk, and the development of strategies to prevent or mitigate damage from flash or riverine flooding;

“Flood resiliency” means efforts and activities intended to minimize damages during times of flooding resulting in reduced risk to people and infrastructure, and ensuring there is ample room for flooding and river adjustment to occur where the opportunity may exist;

“Low-income geographic area” means any locality, or community within a locality, that has a median household income that is not greater than 80 percent of the local median household income, or any area in the state designated as a qualified opportunity zone by the U.S. Secretary of the Treasury via his delegation of authority to the Internal Revenue Service;

“Low-income household” means any household whose income does not exceed 80 percent of the local median household income;

“Nature-based solution” means sustainable planning, design, environmental management, and engineering practices that weave natural features or processes into the built environment to promote flood resiliency and preserve or enhance natural hydrologic function;

“Person” means any individual, corporation, voluntary organization or entity, partnership, firm, or other association, organization, or entity organized or existing under the laws of this or any other state or country;

“Political subdivision” means any county or municipal corporation in this state;

“Recovery Trust Fund” means the West Virginia Disaster Recovery Trust Fund created by this article; and,

“Stafford Act” means the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. Chapter 68).