Disastrous weather conditions brought on by the ongoing climate crisis are affecting people throughout the world. There have been wildfires, tornadoes, severe storms and mass flooding both in the U.S. and around the globe.
Ambulance stuck in flood water in Welch, West Virginia, Feb. 16, 2025. (Credit: West Virginia Watch)
West Virginia has experienced flooding off and on since February. The most recent flooding occurred mid-June in the northern counties of Ohio and Marion. The reported death toll is nine, with several more people missing. Many homes and small businesses were permanently destroyed, and much of the damage is irreversible. Continuous rainstorms have plagued the region after the flooding, causing mudslides and other catastrophes.
Capitalism, right-wing politicians bear responsibility
Prior to the recent flooding in northern West Virginia, heavy rainfall on February 15 triggered mass flooding throughout the southern “coal mining” region of the state in McDowell, Mingo, Logan, Boone, Wyoming and Wayne counties.
The rainfall caused rivers and creeks to swell, forcing roads and bridges to wash away. Homes were soaked and residents were left without power or safe drinking water. At least three people were reported dead from that flood, and many other people remain missing.
West Virginia Governor Patrick Morrisey, an ultra-right MAGA supporter, requested and was initially denied federal assistance by the Donald Trump administration. At the same time the Trump regime rejected support for flood victims in southern West Virginia, Elon Musk enthusiastically tweeted about DOGE shutting down Mine Safety and Health Administration offices, destroying hundreds of jobs, in the same devastated areas.
The Trump administration finally approved some federal support two and a half weeks after the first flooding, but FEMA still denied grants for individual assistance. To the disappointment of people who lost their homes and vehicles, Gov. Morrisey had the audacity to claim that “federal aid was not needed sooner.” (wvva.com, June 28) People were forced to take care of each other and clean up most of the damage themselves, since they did not receive any federal or state support.
The counties that flooded in February are among the poorest in the U.S. by measures of income, employment and infrastructure. McDowell County is rated as having the highest poverty rate in the U.S. Approximately 30.9% of the population in McDowell County lives below the poverty line, according to Data USA. This rate is significantly higher than both the state and the national averages.
McDowell County was the biggest producer of coal in the U.S. throughout the 20th century and was also considered home for a significant number of Black coal miners. The African-American population of Welch, the county seat of McDowell, is currently 24.97%. (tinyurl.com/557m9msw)
The MAGA-controlled West Virginia legislature established a “Flood Resiliency Trust Fund” in 2023, but they have deliberately refused to allocate any money. African-American delegate and House Minority Leader Sean Hornbuckle proposed an amendment to the state budget bill that would have put $50 million dollars into the flood fund, and the reactionary legislature voted it down. The governor also repudiated any mention of adding money to the fund during his budget proposal on February 28, just a few days after the first flooding.
Workers World spoke with Maria Gunnoe, a militant environmental activist from southern West Virginia who stated: “The response to flooding across southern West Virginia is catastrophic all by itself. The political games being played are cruel and inhumane.” Gunnoe added: “People are currently suffering in sweltering heat with no support. They do not even have clean water in their streams.”
Activists, community members take matters into their own hands
After witnessing the deliberate neglect from the first round of flooding in February, community members and activists banded together when flooding happened in the northern end of the state in June. One activist group called “Ohio Valley Mutual Aid” did a lot of clean-up work as well as providing food and water to people who were impacted in Ohio County.
Zach Shrewsbury, a longtime community activist and anti-capitalist, told Workers World: “We didn’t wait for the state. We had no choice. When the water came, it was neighbor to neighbor hauling supplies, pulling folks from homes, feeding each other and saving what we could. Not because anyone told us to, but because no one else was coming.”
The West Virginia governor and the ultra-reactionary legislature are more concerned with hurting poor and oppressed residents of the state than they are with helping them. The state’s reactionary politicians go out of their way to accommodate anti-trans bigots, anti-vaxxers and private business interests, but they refuse to deposit money into their own “flood relief fund,” even as flooding continues to ravage the state.
A scientific socialist response to flooding
The southwestern region of the People’s Republic of China recently experienced heavy rainfall and rising upstream water that led to massive flooding. The Guizhou and Guangxi provinces experienced the most flooding, especially in towns and villages along the Liu River in Guangxi.
As a socialist country, China has a centrally planned economy that enables it to provide programs that serve people when disaster strikes. The National Development and Reform Commission urgently allocated an additional 100 million yuan ($14 million) from the central budgetary investment to support the post-disaster emergency recovery immediately after flooding was apparent. (Global Times, June 28) Regional lawmakers did not have to ask for federal support or worry about being denied assistance.
In stark contrast to the capitalist U.S., China has programs in place to conduct mass evacuations. Mass evacuations in Rongjiang and Congjiang counties of Guizhou were prompted as soon as there was a threat. Roughly 48,900 residents in Rongjiang and an estimated 32,000 residents in Congjiang had been temporarily evacuated on June 24. (Global Times, June 28) There were six reported deaths; the number is likely to have been much higher had evacuation systems not been in place.
Only a revolutionary, centrally planned socialist system can successfully place human needs before profit and greed. As the U.S. shifts politically further to the right and the climate crisis continues to escalate, working and oppressed people consistently suffer the most. People in West Virginia should not have been nor continue to be forced to help each other because of capitalist neglect. Government responses to the flooding in People’s China and West Virginia epitomize the difference between socialism and capitalist greed.