Eyewitness News Investigates: 2016 flood victim is finally home

KANAWHA COUNTY, W.Va. (WCHS) — The camper where Geoff Cross lived since his mobile home was swallowed by Elk River floodwaters is just across the street from his old address.

However, it took him 2,070 days to make that short trip over Elk River Road and up his old driveway, through the front door of his new home.

"It's different," Cross said. "The world looks great from my windows. Hell yeah. It feels like a day that never would have, never would have gotten here. You know, at this moment I'm kind of speechless. I'm just happy to be in my freakin' house."

Because of federal regulations, Cross' mobile home could not be replaced by another. Instead it was ordered a new house would be built upon rows and rows of cinderblocks designed to keep it dry should the Elk overflow its banks again.

For a number of reasons, the completion date kept getting pushed back, meaning Cross was forced to stay in his camper, where he sometimes used a bucket for a restroom because the porta-potty was all the way across the street.

When our Eyewitness News investigation led us to Cross as one of the victims of illegally-placed liens on his federally-funded home, we learned about his predicament.

Eyewitness News contacted Gov. Jim Justice about the situation, who then made it clear to his Department of Commerce to prioritize this project.

Finally, several weeks ahead of schedule, Cross was given his house keys.

"It means a lot," Ed Gaunch, West Virginia Secretary of Commerce said. "It means a lot to me, too, Kennie, to be honest with you. To see people have to wait hurts my heart. And since I assumed responsibility for this program April, 2021, I've had a first-hand view of just how many people have been waiting. And the waiting, you know, is not what we want to happen. And today is a victory for Mr. Cross, even though there have been multiple delays, problems here, pandemic, workforce issues, today we get to celebrate with Mr. Cross and turn the keys over to his new home."

Gaunch said since the RISE WV program was taken over by the West Virginia National Guard in 2018, the work pace has quickened. That continued when the Guard handed its responsibilities back to the commerce department.

Gaunch said although work remains, the finish line is finally in sight and should be crossed by early next year.

"Yeah, a little bit of heavy lifting to do but we can see a light at the end of the tunnel now," he said. "You're right, the ones that are left are the hardest ones. It's where we have to relocate people, acquire the land the existing property sits on, find new property to build a new house and then find somebody who'll take ownership. Hopefully, a political subdivision, a county or city or somebody like that. In the next few months we'll be finishing this up."

As for Cross. while nothing can take away the pain from his years of waiting and uncertainty, he says he appreciates efforts to get the house completed more quickly, even if it shaved just a few weeks off of the schedule.

"Well, I know the work on it really amped up after the interview, which I didn't think would happen," Cross said. "But evidently you got some pull that no one else did because no other news crews come on to ask me anything. No one showed up, so thank you. I'm happy with it."

To date, the Rise WV program has built or installed 360 houses and mobile homes. There are 25 more residences to go. Fifteen have been assigned to contractors, three projects have been moved to new locations because they could not be rebuilt in the flood plain and seven remain to be assigned to a new location.

Those 25 single-family homes and remaining two multi-family structures should all be finished by the spring of 2023.