NC storms stack up: recovery from Helene and Chantal drags on after Erin

North Carolina is still picking up the pieces from last year’s Hurricane Helene and Tropical Storm Chantal, even as communities contend with fresh damage from Hurricane Erin — and state officials warn that federal relief has fallen far short of what’s needed.

In a press conference Wednesday, Emergency Management Director Will Wray said that while all eyes are on Erin and its impacts to coastal communities, personnel from his office and local emergency management partners remain focused on facilitating recovery efforts across western North Carolina.

He said the Joint Recovery Office in Asheville remains open without interruption, as do the multi-agency recovery centers, which have served over 16,111 survivors of Hurricane Helene, which hit that part of the state almost a year ago.

Likewise, disaster recovery centers in central North Carolina remain open in local communities that were impacted by Tropical Storm Chantal.

Wray added that state individual assistance is available to Chantal survivors while the state awaits a decision from the federal government on North Carolina’s request for a major disaster declaration for public assistance, which would provide additional recovery resources to those impacted communities and the state.

FEMA approves $85M reimbursement for Helene

Gov. Josh Stein told reporters that he wanted to acknowledge and express his appreciation to FEMA and the Department of Homeland Security as the state got word on Tuesday that about $85 million of the previously approved projects for Helene recovery would be reimbursed shortly.  He noted that $100 million for other projects needs to be reimbursed.

“It creates real financial strain, especially for the local governments, but also the state, and so we will continue to work with our federal partners to make sure that the reimbursements are processed as quickly as possible, and then we’ll have to wait and see what the impacts are for Hurricane Erin, trying to see whether we need federal assistance as it relates to this storm,” he said.

A reporter asked why the governor didn’t declare a state of emergency for Chantal, as he did for Erin.

“In terms of declaring a statewide emergency, this (Erin) was going to impact many counties, and when we saw the weather projections, we couldn’t anticipate how far west it would go, and by declaring that state of emergency, it enabled us to leverage a lot of resources,” Stein, a Democrat, responded. “It also allowed us to make changes to our transportation regulations. The Highway Patrol, if they see a heavy truck, they have to stop it and ticket it if it is excessive in size. Well, by declaring a statewide emergency, we could allow the Highway Patrol to let these heavy trucks go on roads that are safe, not on bridges that can’t sustain the weight to preposition to respond to whatever impacts the storm is.”

He said it also enabled the state to contact neighboring states, like Georgia, which has Chinook helicopters that can move food and water, to request them if needed. Although Chantal was a much more localized event, the state concluded that declaring a state of emergency would help trigger the relief necessary for those impacted.

“grateful for every dollar that we get”

Stein stressed that although the state has had good working relationships with the federal government since Helene hit, the extent of federal support has not met the needs of those in western North Carolina.

“If you aggregate all of the different types of federal relief we’ve gotten, whether it was through FEMA or the US Department of Transportation or the Army Corps of Engineers or the Small Business Administration, we’re at about 8% of the overall damages, which was $60 billion,” he said. “So we’re grateful for every dollar that we get, but when you look at historically other major storms, that averages in the 40% range, some storms upwards of 70% of the overall damage in support from the federal government. So the federal government has not met the moment.”

Stein said they will continue to make the case to the state’s congressional delegation, which they have gotten a good response from, and to the Trump administration to urge them to support western North Carolina to the extent necessary.

remaking fema

The governor also said that the latest news that President Trump has decided to remake FEMA instead of dismantling it is welcome news for North Carolina.

“Clearly, there’s a lot of turmoil or transformation in Washington about what to do with FEMA,” he said. “I mean, the president initially declared he wanted to get rid of FEMA. He’s created a FEMA Review Council. I think the latest indication is that they’re going to keep and reform FEMA. That is an outcome that I heartily embrace.”

Stein said there are things the state can do that will help FEMA better serve North Carolinians, but the federal government’s partnership is absolutely needed with these storms.

“This one appears to be localizing on North Carolina, but many of the storms hit an entire region,” he said. “The scale of these storms is massive. $60 billion in western North Carolina from Hurricane Helene. Those kinds of resources don’t exist in western North Carolina to respond, and our state’s two-year budget is $66 billion, so essentially, we would have to forego the entire two-year budget just to get western North Carolina back to where it was before.”

Stein stressed that the federal government is the only institution with those kinds of resources and the expertise on a regional level to respond, which is why it is essential that FEMA is kept in place and improved.

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