Lawmakers in the North Carolina legislature swiftly passed additional Hurricane Helene relief funds as the western part of the state recovers.
Both the state House and Senate unanimously passed a $604 million relief bill on Thursday, weeks after passing a $273 million relief bill. The Disaster Recovery Act of 2024 – Part II is divided into giving $195 million to agriculture, natural, and economic resources and $71.4 million to health and human services, among other allocations dictated by the legislation.
The relief bill approved during the one-day session on Thursday is expected to be signed into law by Gov. Roy Cooper (D-NC). The governor had released an initial $3.9 billion bill for Hurricane Helene relief on Wednesday, ahead of the session, calling the storm the “deadliest and most damaging storm” to hit the state ever.
“This storm left a trail of destruction in our beautiful mountains that we will not soon forget, but I know the people of Western North Carolina are determined to build back better than ever. These initial funds are a good start, but the staggering amount of damage shows we are very much on the front end of this recovery effort,” Cooper said in a statement.
His office said that initial estimates show $53 billion in damage to the state by the storm.
The relief bill passed is significantly lower than the amount the governor had requested, but lawmakers on Thursday stressed that their bill was only a second step of a larger process for relief funds.
“The assessment of what needs to be done is still in progress,” Republican state Senate President Pro Tempore Phil Berger said, according to the Associated Press. “What we’ve done is deploy an adequate amount of resources at this time to deal with some of the more immediate things that have some time sensitivity.”
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Republican state House Speaker Tim Moore told the News and Observer that he expects the end cost to the state to be in the billions but that the current efforts passed by the chamber are preliminary relief bills.
“We’re talking nearly $900 million at this point that General Assembly has put in. And the reality is we’re going to be back Nov. 19. We’re gonna deal with this,” Moore said, noting when the legislature returns to session next.