State still needs $300 million for buyouts
By Steve Herring
Published in News on November 15, 2017 5:50 AM
RALEIGH -- Even though the state got "slammed hard" by Hurricane Matthew, it could have been worse, N.C. Emergency Management Director Michael Sprayberry said.
"If we hadn't taken the mitigation measures during Hurricane Floyd, we would be hurting a lot worse," Sprayberry said. "After Floyd we bought out hundreds of homes, got them out of the flood plain."
The state needs to continue to focus on flood mitigation and find ways to manage rivers and communities to make them more resilient, he said.
Sprayberry made his comments Monday afternoon during the initial N.C. House Select Committee on Disaster Relief chaired by Rep. John Bell of Goldsboro. Rep. Jimmy Dixon, of Mount Olive, is also on the committee.
Sprayberry updated the committee on the Disaster Recovery Acts of 2016 and 2017.
Every penny counts in Hurricane Matthew recovery, he said.
"We are still short some funding," Sprayberry said. "We had 3,000 people apply for buyouts, elevations, demolition/rebuilds of their homes. We only have enough funding for about 800 which leaves about 2,200 houses left.
"These are households that want it. They asked for it. They are eligible. For that gap it would take around $300 million. So there are still some gaps out there."
While Sprayberry did not mention any funding agency by name, Wayne County Manager George Wood has said that Federal Emergency Management Agency assistance to the state has fallen short.
Wayne County applied for $35 million through the state for FEMA funding. It received $9 million.
The $35 million was for 331 applications that included 24 for elevation, none of which were accepted, and 307 for acquisition of which only 85 were accepted by the state.
However, FEMA spokesman David Mace said Wood's comments are inaccurate.
The amount of Hazard Mitigation Grant Program money that is available to the state for a federally declared disaster is finite under federal statute, Mace said.
It is generally set at 15 percent of the total Individual Assistance and Public Assistance grants provided, he said.
Because North Carolina has taken additional steps to improve resiliency the state received 20 percent instead of the usual 15 percent, but that is the limit of Hazard Mitigation Grant Program funding, Mace said.
"We provide that funding to the state, which decides how and where to spend it, subject to FEMA guidelines," he said. "Buyouts are one allowed option. The state can set its own guidelines for buyout applications and accept as many as it wants, but the amount of money they get is limited to the formula I explained above, and they know it.
"FEMA has no authority to go beyond those limits. The notion that FEMA is somehow 'shorting' the state, or is providing even one penny less than the full amount allowed by federal law is inaccurate."
Bell has said that the committee will look at possible additional state disaster funding -- possibly for property buyouts, river dredging and reservoirs.
The committee also will study the state's infrastructure and regulations as they pertain to flood relief and study a proposed recommendation to prevent future flooding in eastern North Carolina.