RALEIGH — The legislative subcommittee on Hurricane Recovery and Response held a hearing last week that included testimony on Hurricane Helene efforts from Gov. Josh Stein’s western North Carolina Recovery Office, as well as nonprofit and county officials.
The meeting opened with remarks from subcommittee co-chair Brenden Jones (R-Columbus) praising the people in the mountain counties and warning about the shortcomings of government.
“But the biggest storm still hammering North Carolina is not Helene. It is government failure. And that failure’s name is Roy Cooper,” said Jones. “We saw it after Matthew. We saw it after Florence. And once again, when Helene struck, Cooper repeated every mistake in the book.
“In critical days after the storm when every hour mattered, his administration waited weeks to release a preliminary damage assessment, finally issuing numbers in late October that underestimated the loss by billions.”
Jones accused Cooper of standing “in front of the cameras while his agency slow-walked relief, buried local governments in paperwork (and) left tax dollars sitting here in Raleigh instead of putting nails in wood.”
“Gov. Stein now holds the pen. He did not create this message. He inherited it,” said Jones. “But if I could offer one piece of advice: Don’t follow the Cooper playbook of excuses and delays. Move the money. Rebuild the homes. Report every dollar. This General Assembly will not allow another Hurricane Cooper to drag on while families suffer.”
The first panel included Lynn Austin of Yancey County, Luther Harrison of Samaritan’s Purse and Dennis Aldridge, an Avery County commissioner.
The subcommittee also heard from Matt Calabria, director of the Governor’s Recovery Office for Western North Carolina (GROW NC); Stephanie McGarrah, deputy secretary for the Division of Community Revitalization within the N.C. Department of Commerce; and Jonathan Krebs, Stein’s Western North Carolina Recovery adviser.
The Samaritan’s Purse Helene response overview highlighted the organization’s efforts to support Helene victims, citing nearly 35,000 volunteers contributing more than 477,000 hours to serve families. The group’s airlift response ran 358 missions across 160 communities, delivering over 800,000 pounds of critical supplies.
Harrison said Samaritan’s Purse helped more than 4,000 families in the months after Helene and provided furniture and appliances to over 2,900 families. The group also delivered more than 170 campers for temporary housing.
Samaritan’s Purse’s rebuild program, set up to restore homes and infrastructure, includes building new homes, replacing mobile homes and completing major home repairs. So far, the group’s report said 17 fully furnished mobile homes have been delivered with 30 more in progress, and the construction of more than 40 new homes is underway.
The GROW NC presentation, delivered by Calabria, outlined key initiatives, such as rebuilding safe housing, with more than $514 million in FEMA Individual Assistance approved for residents, over 6,800 households receiving temporary housing help and more than 500 homes repaired by volunteer organizations supported by $6 million in state funds.
GROW NC’s presentation highlighted that North Carolina stands out as the fastest state in more than a decade to begin rebuilding homes using HUD CDBG-DR funding.
On infrastructure repair, Calabria said 95% of state-maintained roads are fully reopened, that 8.1 million cubic yards of right-of-way debris and 8 million cubic yards of waterway debris have been removed, and that $26 million in FEMA funds was authorized to repair private roads and bridges for more than 6,500 households.
All 13 impacted state parks have also reopened, either fully or partially, according to Calabria.
The total damage and needs are still estimated at $60 billion, and despite billions in state and federal dollars, there is still an estimated $45 billion in unfunded needs. Earlier this month, Stein requested an additional $13.5 billion from Congress. FEMA has obligated or sent $5.17 billion to the state.
Calabria’s presentation said public assistance funding for state and local governments has been delayed due to new approval processes for funds over $100,000 involving sign-off by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.
Aldridge remarked on the FEMA funding process, noting that $15 million divided among 5,000 people only yields about $3,000 each, and he called for clearer guidance.
“We have tried to get clarity on how to proceed,” Aldridge said. “We’re willing to connect the dots; just don’t keep moving the dots.”
Austin commented on debris and infrastructure challenges, mentioning “$37 million that has been paid out” for debris removal, and urged timely aid.
“Time is money for us,” she said, “and time means people’s health in our community.”
Austin added, “The state is a lot faster than the feds, and we appreciate that.”
North Carolina Treasurer Brad Briner also gave updates on the more than $1.51 million Cash Flow Loan Program and Helene-related disbursements. He said the initial disaster recovery estimates his office deemed eligible for the program totaled almost a billion dollars, with the potential for $850 million more based on damage estimates. Briner said $150 million has been allocated so far as of the third release of loan funds.
