DHS is delaying millions in already approved North Carolina recovery funds, documents show [View all]
The Department of Homeland Security is holding up more than $100 million in preapproved funds intended to help hurricane-battered North Carolina clean up storm damage and fix infrastructure still in disrepair almost a year after Helene hit the region, according to documents obtained by The Washington Post and officials familiar with the process.
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On July 22, North Carolina Gov. Josh Stein sent a letter to DHS Secretary Kristi L. Noem urging her to rapidly release disaster recovery funds that the Federal Emergency Management Agency had already approved, which total about $115 million in public assistance grants. The state “faces nearly $60-billion in storm related damages,” the governor said, and while the federal government has already provided “considerable financial support … unfortunately much more help is needed to rebuild western North Carolina.”
In a statement, DHS said after Helene, FEMA “delivered substantial assistance to North Carolina to help individuals, businesses and communities recover,” which the agency said has so far totaled $1.36 billion, not counting funds from other federal entities. The statement added “funding and resources will continue to flow to the state.”
Communities across the region, though, still need to be reimbursed for about a hundred projects ranging from debris removal, waste water treatment repairs, roads and bridges, damaged buildings and parks, as well as for emergency protective measures such as paying back volunteer fire departments, according to data obtained by The Post.
https://wapo.st/457EvoS
And North Carolina voted for the idiot
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