Attorney general visits city to survey damage
By Steve Herring
Published in News on November 1, 2016 9:58 AM
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News-Argus/SETH COMBS
North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper, left, stands with Anthony Goodson Jr., chief executive officer of the Goldsboro Housing Authority, at a home in the West Haven housing development on Monday morning.
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News-Argus/SETH COMBS
Roy Cooper tours the West Haven housing development on Monday morning. Cooper was in the city to visit areas that had been affected by flooding during and after Hurricane Matthew.
Walking around flood-damaged units at the West Haven housing project Monday morning, Attorney General Cooper recalled a phone call he received from Gov. Jim Hunt in 1999 following Hurricane Floyd.
"Gov. Hunt called me that morning and said, 'Meet me at the airport in Rocky Mount,'" Cooper said. "I said, 'Well governor, you have got to send me a boat because there is no way I am getting to the airport,' from where I was.
"I think we learned a lot from that experience about how to coordinate local, state and federal government to get something done. I introduced state legislation that provided close to $800 million to help recovery. We still have that task before us, that is for sure."
Cooper, the Democratic gubernatorial nominee, toured Goldsboro Housing Authority properties damaged by the flooding and visited the shelter at School Street School and a local church that is rebuilding.
He also warned about scams and price gouging in the aftermath of Hurricane Matthew.
"I have been going to counties that have been hit," he said. "My first priority is making sure that my office is there to assist in any way, particularly with storm scams and price gouging. We have had over a 170 complaints of price gouging thus far.
"But we are also looking at the recovery process and how we can assist in that. We are certainly looking here at long term. There is going to be a lot to do as we go forward."
Cooper said he has been to eight or nine counties so far.
"I have had a number of people just say to me, 'I don't have anything left,'" he said. "That is a devastating situation for a family to be in, particularly those who can least afford it and are often hit the hardest. We have got to pull together.
"I mean eastern North Carolina had some economic challenges to begin with. You throw this on top, and it makes it even more of a challenge."
This period of time should be used as well to put a "spotlight" on the challenges North Carolina's rural areas face, he said.
"In addition to hurricane recovery, we have got to talk about expansion of Medicaid and how that can boost our rural health care and talk about Rural Center and Small Business loans and trying to get some of the better-paying jobs in our rural areas," Cooper said.
"Then the additional importance of our military bases to our economy here and strengthening federal ties to make sure that when it comes to policy our federal delegation can work in a bipartisan way, and hopefully the state can work in a bipartisan way with them so that we can help out these local governments. We (the state) should help coordinate the local efforts with FEMA and other federal assistance -- to be a point of contact."
The maze of federal government is challenging enough for state officials, Cooper said.
"It is even worse for local officials I am sure," he said. "We have got to figure out a way to make it easier for you on the local level and coordinate it. The housing authority in every single county that was hit by this hurricane has a similar problem that you have.
"It is just different properties and different people, but it is similar problems. Many of them went through Floyd as well, so we've got a template. We have done this before."
To help prevent storm victims from becoming scam victims, Cooper said his office sent consumer protection specialists to shelters to talk to people and to distribute forms and instructions on how to avoid scams.
"One of the main scams we see at this time are repair scams where you have these people who come in and knock on your door and offer to remove trees or repair your roof," he said. "They take your money and sometimes do very little work if any and leave.
"We have a list. We tell people to also look after your parents and your grandparents, too, about this. Don't pay money upfront, particularly somebody who comes to you. If they are trying to pressure you into doing something now or never, then say no. We urge people to call their insurance company, try to get several companies to give written estimates and use reputable businesses."