The Federal Emergency Management Agency has released another round of reimbursements for Hurricane Helene recovery, totaling about $97 million. The money will mainly go towards debris removal and road repair in counties throughout Western North Carolina. It also supports the rebuilding of Valle Crucis School, an elementary school in Watauga County that was closed for more than a year due to Helene-related flooding.
This is the first tranche of FEMA funding released since Kristi Noem was fired as the Secretary of Homeland Security in early March. Noem’s replacement, Markwayne Mullin, said during his confirmation hearing that he would end Noem’s controversial policy of requiring his signature for all expenditures over $100,000. He said getting rid of that policy will solve some of the delays plaguing Helene-impacted communities, some which have faced financially precarious positions as a result.
This latest round of funds comes from the agency’s Public Assistance program, which provides grants to local and state governments for Helene recovery. It mainly supports infrastructure repair and emergency response services. So far, the agency has awarded more than $1.5 billion in Public Assistance funds to North Carolina.
The funds come at a crucial time for counties across Western North Carolina, which are in the middle of planning their budgets for the next fiscal year. Haywood County in particular has expressed frustration over the slow reimbursements. In a March 16 budget planning meeting, Haywood County Manager Bryant Morehead said the federal government owed the county about $17.7 million in reimbursements. The county’s annual budget is around $112 million.
“It's frustrating to me that we have to keep begging and asking for this money,” Haywood commissioner Brandon Rogers said at the meeting. “We followed all of the rules to the T to make sure that we got our reimbursements. We paid our vendors in good faith. And it's putting all of us kind of in a corner of making decisions on what programs we can and can't fund at the local level while we're waiting on reimbursements.”
In this latest release of funds, Haywood received $12.5 million in reimbursements for debris removal, leaving $5.5 million in outstanding funds, based on the county’s calculations.
Statewide, Helene caused nearly $60 billion in damage. So far, the federal government has directed about $11 billion in Helene recovery aid to North Carolina, according to a data analysis by BPR. Additionally, the state has allocated $3.85 billion towards Helene recovery. Combined, the funds make up about 17% of the total damage that Helene inflicted.
See the full list of latest reimbursements:
- $1.58 million for debris removal in Watauga County
- $1.61 million for debris removal in Rutherford County
- $4.8 million to the NCDOT
- $6.2 million for debris removal in Avery County
- $26.1 million for the repair of Valle Crucis School in Watauga County
- $1.1 million for emergency equipment support in Avery County
- $1 million for debris removal in Woodfin
- $1.41 million for debris removal in Biltmore Forest
- $3.74 million for debris removal in Rutherford County
- $4.03 million for debris removal in Rutherford County
- $1.5 million to the NCDOT for road repairs in Ashe County
- $12.5 million for debris removal in Haywood County
- $1.07 million for road repairs in Asheville (Horizon Hill Road)
- $1.54 million to the NCDOT for road repairs in Mitchell County
- $3.7 million to the NCDOT for road repairs in Watauga County
- $2.92 million to the NCDOT for road repairs and emergency protective measures in Buncombe County
- $1.49 million to the NCDOT for emergency support across Buncombe, Burke, and Madison counties
- $1.38 million to the NCDOT for temporary bridge repairs in Henderson County
- $1.10 million for berm repairs at Bat Cave Baptist Church
- $7.31 million for dam repairs at French Broad Electric Membership Corporation
- $1.09 million for emergency support for election sites statewide
