(The Center Square) – Hundreds of millions of dollars, from taxpayers in North Carolina, are going to help continue the cleanup from Hurricane Helene following FEMA’s second rejection.
Democratic Gov. Josh Stein said despite the administrative setback from the Trump administration, “We will keep pushing the federal and state governments to do right by western North Carolina.”
David Richardson, the senior official performing duties for the administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, wrote in part to Stein, “We have concluded that an extension of the 100% federal cost share for debris removal and emergency protective measures, including direct federal assistance for an additional 180 days under major disaster declaration FEMA-4827-DR is not warranted.”
Stein’s appeal of an April decision is alongside his request for Congress to appropriate $19 billion for disaster relief – $11.5 billion in new appropriations and $7.5 billion from previous appropriations. Congressional members from North Carolina are pushing for more aid. President Donald Trump made the Buncombe County is his first domestic trip after inauguration.
The second-term Republican also pledged support to the state and expressed concern with how FEMA operates. He has previously suggested rerouting some of its assistance programs and dismantling, or at a minimum shrinking, the agency in favor of disaster oversight by states.
“The first step to help western North Carolina recover is to clean up all the debris,” Stein said. “So far, we have removed more than 12 million cubic yards of debris from roads and waterways, but given the immense scale of the wreckage, we have only scratched the surface. FEMA’s denial of our appeal will cost North Carolina taxpayers potentially hundreds of millions of dollars to clean up out west.”
Helene hit the coast of Florida on Sept. 26 as a Category 4 hurricane and soon dissipated over the mountains of North Carolina and Tennessee. Some areas were hit with more than 30 inches of rain. The torrents created fatal rushes of water.
In North Carolina, 107 were killed and damage is estimated at $60 billion. There were 236 killed across seven states. The 36th week of recovery begins this weekend just as the 2025 Atlantic hurricane season begins on Saturday.
General Assembly appropriations, four of them so far with a fifth pending, have provided more than $1.4 billion. Congress in December approved about $9 billion toward North Carolina from a nationwide $110 billion package. FEMA says it has eclipsed $10 million in assistance.
