Residents talk grants, buyout for property damaged by hurricane
By Steve Herring
Published in News on January 13, 2017 9:57 AM
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News-Argus/STEVE HERRING
Seven Springs area resident C.C. Price, right, looks over an application for the Hazard Mitigation Program during a Thursday night meeting at Seven Springs Baptist Church. In the background from left are Norma Houston, Joe Stanton and Nick Burk, of N.C. Emergency management.
SEVEN SPRINGS -- Residents in the riverside town devastated by major flooding twice in less than 20 years Thursday night wanted to know about grants to buy out their property or to elevate their homes.
And several said they had attended the meeting to get some straight answers after receiving conflicting information in the months following the flooding caused by Hurricane Matthew.
Officials with the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the UNC School of Government and the N.C. Department of Public Safety Emergency Management met for about and hour and a half with nearly 70 area residents at the Seven Springs Baptist Church fellowship hall.
"I have found out myself as a flood victim that the first two months and half it was one step forward, two steps backward," said Mayor Stephen Potter who introduced himself as the mayor of flood city. "It is has been a very arduous process to get stuff done."
Potter said he has flood insurance and avenues for help through that. Also having the assistance of county officials navigating the process has helped a great deal, he said.
"Many people I feel like are stuck or have issues that they are having trouble resolving which is why we are here tonight," Potter said. "We have all the major players at the table, and hopefully we will get your questions asked and answered."
Most of the questions concerned flood insurance, Hazard Mitigation Program grants and the process that will be followed to buy out property owners.
One man in the audience said he was living in Florida several years ago and that it took nearly four years to complete the buyout process following a hurricane.
The county actually accepts the applications for the elevation and buyout grants, said County Planner Chip Crumpler.
After the meeting Crumpler said it had taken up for years on the buyouts following Hurricane Floyd in 1999. However, the county has been prepared and proactive in having applications ready.
Crumpler said he thinks the time could be as short as two years.
Thus far the county has received approximately 250 applications for elevations/acquisitions, he said. He received several more following Thursday night's meeting.
Crumpler said he did not yet have a breakdown since applications are still being processed, but that there have been more applications for buyouts than elevations.
There were a total of 600 buyouts after Floyd compared to much fewer this time around so the turnaround should be quicker, he said.
"When somebody submits an application for that project that triggers our inspections staff to go out and do a substantial damage estimate on the property," he said.
The inspectors use a spreadsheet to estimate the damages as well as to what the repairs will cost versus the tax value of the structure only.
"If that amounts to repair it is over 50 percent, then they term it substantially damaged," Crumpler said.
Once all of the applications have been completed, the county submits a grant application to cover the city and county.
Residents can apply for either a buyout or elevation project, he said.
The county is being assisted by David Harris of RSM Harris Associates, who has handled the county Community Development Block Grant programs for a number of years.
Both of the programs are strictly voluntary, Harris told the audience.
It doesn't matter if it is the day of the closing and someone is getting ready to sign the paperwork, he said. They can still drop the pen and walk away with no cost even though there have been costs incurred by the state, he said.
Harris reminded residents that they have until Monday, Jan. 23, to apply for FEMA assistance, but have until March 31 to apply for the Hazard Mitigation Program.
FEMA assistance is for immediate recovery if people need something now, he said.
The FEMA program is not designed to put people back to whole and is designed to make homes safe, sanitary and functional.
Harris and the officials urged residents to apply for FEMA assistance and possibly Small Business Administration loans even if they decide later not to accept the low-interest loans.
"The long-term recovery is how do we keep this from happening again," Harris said. "That is what the mitigation program is for. The state is going to be accepting applications from the counties until March 31."
Residents do not have to register with FEMA to be eligible for the Hazard Program Mitigation grants.
It is a long-term process, but the state is trying to expedite the process, said Nick Burk, section manager for Mitigation Grants with N.C. Emergency Management.
"Usually with the FEMA programs they are going to offer pre-disaster, fair-market value, the North Carolina-certified appraised value of before the disaster struck," Burk said.
Registering with FEMA is the first step to federal disaster assistance.
To register:
* Go online at DisasterAssistance.gov.
* Call the FEMA Helpline at 800-621-3362 for voice, 711 and Video Relay Service. If you are deaf, hard of hearing or have a speech disability and use a TTY, call 800-462-7585.
* Download the FEMA mobile app.
Survivors can get help applying for federal assistance, learn about the types of assistance available, learn about the appeals process and get updates about applications.
To locate the center nearest you, call the FEMA helpline at 800-621-3362, use the ReadyNC and FEMA mobile apps, or go online to FEMA.gov/DRC or ReadyNC.org.
Survivors requiring a reasonable accommodation such as American Sign Language interpreting, Braille, large print, etc. while visiting a disaster recovery center may call the helpline numbers for support.
The toll-free numbers are open from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m., seven days a week. Help is available in most languages, and information on the registration process is available in American Sign Language at FEMA.gov/media-library/assets/videos/ 111546.
For more information on North Carolina's recovery from Hurricane Matthew, visitthe disaster webpages at FEMA.gov/disaster/ 4285 or ReadyNC.org