RALEIGH — The Federal Emergency Management Agency has denied Governor Josh Stein’s request to extend the 100% matching for debris removal costs following Hurricane Helene.
The state will have to pay 10% of the costs going forward, which the preliminary estimates by the N.C. Department of Public Safety’s Emergency Management office (DPSEM) says will cost $200 million.
Stein’s request for a 180-day extension was initially turned down in April with a 30-day appeal window offered. The governor’s appeal was turned down on May 22, according to a letter from the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s David E. Richardson.
“Despite this news, we are going to stay the course. We will keep pushing the federal and state governments to do right by western North Carolina,” said Stein in a press release. “We will keep working with urgency, focus, and transparency to get any appropriated money on the ground as quickly as we can to speed the recovery. We will not forget the people of western North Carolina.”
DPSEM’s William Ray was scheduled to testify before the Joint Government Operations subcommittee on hurricane recovery earlier this month but other testimony cut into the time available for Ray to present debris removal data.
The presentation Ray would have offered shows over 4.374 million cubic feet of debris removed from waterways in the western half of the state as of May. Right-of-way debris removal as of May stands at over 7.797 million cubic feet.
