Residents question delay in disaster recovery
By Joey Pitchford
Published in News on June 15, 2018 5:50 AM
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News-Argus/CASEY MOZINGO
Ada Coley shares her experiences after Hurricane Matthew and fears for more flooding from future hurricanes.
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News-Argus/CASEY MOZINGO
Marjorie Steiner of Seven Springs asks Michael Sprayberry, N.C. Emergency Management director, about elevation assistance for her home.
Those still trying to rebuild over a year after Hurricane Matthew tore through Wayne County had several questions for Emergency Management Director Mike Sprayberry Thursday night, but one common refrain summed up the concerns of the audience -- when will help finally arrive?
Hundreds gathered at the Maxwell Center Thursday night to air their grievances, ask questions and in some cases, simply tell their stories in front of Sprayberry, who came to Goldsboro to try to address concerns over the use -- or non-use, in this case -- of millions of dollars in federal disaster recovery money in Wayne County.
The delay, Sprayberry said, is primarily bureaucratic. The Wayne County recovery project, which is made up of the 84 property buyouts currently approved in the county, will cost nearly $9 million, which means that it must go through additional levels of federal approval before the Federal Emergency Management Agency will fund the project.
"The state doesn't get any money until we get the project award letter, so right now we don't have any funding for Wayne County," he said.
Sprayberry said that additional funding from FEMA and the Community Development Block Grant is expected to arrive over the summer, and residents could potentially start seeing the effects of that within the next few months -- though no specific timetable was set.
Members of the audience consistently pressed Sprayberry for those kinds of specifics, and were generally directed to leave their name and phone number with Sprayberry's staff in order to get more information. For many, this was not the assurance they had been looking for after spending over a year trying to put their lives back together.
Renee Hinson, who lost her home on Hood Drive to flooding, is living in one of the three FEMA trailers given to people in Goldsboro. Her rent, she said, is about to spike to over $1,300, if she is not out of the trailer by July 10, according to a letter she received from FEMA, which she called effectively an eviction notice.
"We are working on trying to get a new home," she said. "We had our other home already demolished. We had a little left over from the ICC, from the flood insurance money," she said. "But I'm really struggling with getting those letters threatening that if you're not out, what they'll come back and do to get that money."
Sprayberry said that Hinson and her family were among the "prime candidates" for a temporary rental assistance program, and told her to give her name and address to his staff.
Gabriella Ham, a Goldsboro kindergarten teacher, got married and closed on a house with her new husband in August of 2016. The couple made their first payment on the house the week that Hurricane Matthew hit, and were immediately forced out as the building filled with water. She said that, in the time since the flood, it had been almost complete "radio silence" from the Department of Emergency Management outside of two letters concerning the buyout process.
Ham said she contacted several people trying to get information. When Sprayberry told her she could contact him personally, she said that she already had.
"You were one of them," she said. "No offense, but I have emailed you."
At that point, Nancy Dellick, Ham's mother, called out to Sprayberry from the crowd, chastising him for not getting in touch with Ham despite saying he would be available. Dellick then walked up to the podium to address Sprayberry over the microphone, despite a law enforcement officer stepping between her and the podium and telling her to sit down.
"She contacted you personally," she said. "You, personally. And you told her that any time she had a question that she could call you. You have never once answered any of her questions. Call her back."
The officer then told Dellick that he would not ask her again to sit down. She did.
Continuing, Ham asked what the state is doing to make the process run better when -- not if -- another major storm hits. Sprayberry apologized for having not responded to Ham's inquiries, but did not offer much in the way of specifics on future plans.
"Every time we have a disaster, we do an after action review because we want to be better," he said. "It's a big disaster. It's a large, complex event. You saw where we provide assistance to 26,000 families. I've got less than 200 employees spread from the coast to the mountains. So, we're doing the best we can. We hope you realize that."
Hinson and Ham were just two of many who spoke up, though not all were there to present their own issues.
After the meeting, Hinson said she did not feel as though she made much progress.
"I think we're kind of in the same spot," she said. "It's not really anything we haven't heard already. Hopefully, we're going to get some answers on our particular situation, on the rent."
After things cleared out, Ham recalled the emotional toll that losing her home took and continues to take on her. After getting married and being so excited to start a new life with her husband, losing the home where they had planned to start their family was crushing for her and her family.
"It comes in waves," she said. "Sometimes, you don't think about it.
"You just live your day-to-day," she said, tears in her eyes. "But then you drive up and it's not your home, and you remember that it's still not over."
Dellick and Ham were both frustrated by the lack of information from the state, and Ham said that she was not satisfied with the answers she got from Sprayberry regarding planning for the future. Dellick said that her frustration at the whole situation had bubbled over during the meeting, and that it is far past time for something substantial to be done about it.
"I don't know if I feel better," she said. "I just hope that the people who were affected, they take their concerns back to Raleigh and to the governor and they really push to get this process going.
"It's gone too long. It needs attention, and it needs it now."
Sprayberry said that his department is working as fast as it can with limited staffing and asked that the community be patient.