Gov. Josh Stein (D-NC) said he would request additional aid from the federal government in response to the widespread devastation in western North Carolina caused by Hurricane Helene last year.
At a press conference Monday, the governor said he would travel to Washington, D.C., this week to personally lobby members of Congress to approve $13.5 billion more for storm relief.
“We need more help. The next stage of recovery is going to require a new commitment from Congress and from the administration to not forget the people of Western North Carolina. West North Carolina has not received anywhere near what it needs, nor our fair share,” Stein said.
Stein said the state has only been paid 9% of what the damage from Hurricane Helene cost North Carolina. He added that much of that money approved in 2024 under the Biden administration was still being blocked by the Trump administration.
“We’re still waiting on billions of dollars that Congress appropriated last December with the American Relief Act,” Stein said. “We are grateful for the millions that have gotten signed off in recent weeks. They are essential and sorely needed. But we’re waiting on billions.”
The governor’s funding request asks for $8 billion from the Department of Housing and Urban Development for Community Development Block Grant-Disaster Recovery, about $2 billion from the Federal Emergency Management Agency in Special Community Disaster Loans, and $2 billion from the Department of Transportation to restore roads and other critical infrastructure.
In previous natural disasters, the federal government provides the majority of disaster relief funding. Stein noted that the federal government paid for more than 70% of the recovery costs related to Hurricanes Sandy and Katrina under the Obama and Bush administrations, respectively.
“Recovery is a team sport,” Stein said. “The state has been putting in money and effort, and one year after this terrible tragedy, it is time for our federal government to meet the needs of the people of Western North Carolina.”
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The North Carolina state legislature has approved around $1.7 billion for disaster relief so far.
“The scale of these storms are massive — $60 billion in western North Carolina from Hurricane Helene,” Stein said last month. “Those kinds of resources don’t exist in western North Carolina to respond. Heck, our state two-year budget is $66 billion, so essentially we would have to forgo the entire two-year budget just to get western North Carolina back to where it was before.”