05/10/17 — State to recieve only $6M of the more than $900M requested for hurricane relief

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State to recieve only $6M of the more than $900M requested for hurricane relief

By Steve Herring
Published in News on May 10, 2017 3:17 PM

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News-Argus/CASEY MOZINGO

Aerial photo of the flooding of the Neuse River across Wayne County after Hurricane Matthew dumped more than 16 inches of rain over the area in October 2016.

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News-Argus/CASEY MOZINGO

Aerial photo of the flooding of the Neuse River across Wayne County after Hurricane Matthew dumped more than 16 inches of rain over the area in October 2016.

Gov. Roy Cooper earlier today said he was shocked and disappointed in the Trump Administration and Congressional leadership's failure to fulfill the state's funding request for $930 million for disaster.

Instead the state will receive $6.1 million, or less than 1 percent than what Cooper had  has sought to help communities and families repair homes and businesses and recover from October's historic flooding.

State House Majority Leader John Bell of Goldsboro is expected to release a statement on the issue later today.

More than 82,000 households in the state have registered for help with the Federal Emergency Management Agency, and some families are still staying in hotels because of the lack of rental and low-income housing, Cooper said.

We requested $900 million for Hurricane Matthew recovery, but will receive just $6.1 million -- less than 1% of the resources we need. pic.twitter.com/IR0qUi2SZX

-- Governor Roy Cooper (@NC_Governor) May 10, 2017

Wayne County was among the four hardest-hit counties. The others are Cumberland, Robeson and Edgecombe counties.

Wayne County has applied for $32 million for 306 property buyouts and $3.9 million for 23 housing elevations. It has yet to hear what will be funded.

Also, as of mid April, 23 Wayne County families were still dislocated and nine were receiving temporary housing assistance. Also, 14 families were in FEMA trailers in the county.