Current funding is not nearly enough to rebuild the thousands of homes damaged or destroyed in last July’s historic flooding in eastern Kentucky, according to a new research analysis.

The report, released earlier this week by the Ohio River Valley Institute and the Appalachian Citizens’ Law Center, estimates the cost of renovating or rebuilding the region’s affected households could range from roughly $500 million to nearly one billion dollars, depending on how many people are relocated to less flood-prone areas. About $159 million has been raised so far by federal, state, and philanthropic sources to support local residents, the researchers found in a separate investigation.

Last July, a series of storms brought heavy rainfall to eastern Kentucky over a five-day period,  causing catastrophic flooding and landslides. More than 40 people lost their lives. Roughly 9,000 households were damaged or destroyed in 13 counties across the state, according to the report. Five hundred and forty two homes were categorized as destroyed, while more than 4,500 were severely damaged.

Social justice and environmental advocates have claimed that the majority of the deaths and damage to homes from the flooding and landslides were exacerbated by the decades of geological and environmental damage caused by strip mining in the region and their proximity to the most affected areas.

The report’s researchers used Federal Emergency Management Agency, or FEMA, data on income levels of households who applied for aid, as well as the results of home assessments the agency conducted, to create two potential aid proposals for the rebuilding effort.

The first, which the researchers estimated would cost around $450 million ($150,000 per home), would only replace homes with moderate to severe damage, or those that had been destroyed, in the same location. The second proposal would replace destroyed homes and relocate them to less flood-prone areas, mitigating future flood risk. It would also use part of the funding to repair the more than 4,000 homes with moderate damage with better structural foundations. While the estimated cost, more than $950 million ($185,000 per home), is far more expensive than the first option, it would likely bring longer term protection from the economic and environmental risks of extreme weather.

Read the full article about rebuilding after flooding in Kentucky by Brett Marsh at Grist.