Wayne County to get nearly $8 million in disaster funding
By Steve Herring
Published in News on July 6, 2018 4:57 PM
Nearly two years after historic flooding left parts of Wayne County under water, North Carolina has been awarded nearly $8 million in federal disaster aid to help local storm victims with their recovery.
The money will be used to buy out 84 Wayne County properties, including nine pending historical clearance, flooded during Hurricane Matthew in October 2016.
The announcement also comes as county residents have grown more vocal in recent months about the slow pace of the recovery.
Several hundred of them gathered at the Maxwell Center on June 15 to air their grievances, ask questions and tell their stories to N.C. Emergency Management Director Michael Sprayberry.
"Residents in Wayne County and Windsor have been eagerly awaiting this news," Sprayberry said in the press release announcing the funding. "Soon they will get started with these projects to get families into more resilient homes."
Hurricane Matthew caused an estimated $4.8 billion in damage to North Carolina, damaging nearly 100,000 homes.
The Wayne County properties are among the more than 190 additional homeowners flooded by Hurricane Matthew that will soon get $20.8 million in federal and state funds to buyout, elevate or reconstruct homes damaged by the storm.
The funding was announced Friday afternoon by N.C. Emergency Management.
Wayne County Assistant County Manager Chip Crumpler said he had been made aware of the award earlier on Friday through an email through the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
"But we have not received a grant agreement for it yet," he said. "It's about time. I think it is a step in the right direction."
Of the county's 84 properties, 22 are in Seven Springs. Of that total 13 have been approved while the other nine are pending historical clearance, according to a state press release.
The release does not specify what the nine properties are or exactly what the review entails.
The total for all 84 properties is closer to $9 million
"That is why the total amount of money (announced) is lower -- because it is short those (nine properties)," Crumpler said. "I don't know what we are going to have to do to resolve that.
"But we can't move forward until we get an actual grant agreement. But it is good news. It looks like the rest of the properties are good to go once we get a grant agreement."
The county will have to go through a procurement process to hire appraisers and attorneys and all of that to make offers, he said.
"But we can't do anything until they have that formal grant agreement signed between the state and us," he said. "That is the only thing that guarantees our money.
"But it looks like FEMA approved it all but nine of them, and they have withheld those nine until according to this a historical review for historic properties is done something with. I am not exactly. But I feel, whatever it is, we will meet it."
Sprayberry told residents the delay is primarily bureaucratic, and state officials said it will be the end of July before Wayne County storm victims receive any of the funding.
This latest award of Hazard Mitigation Grant Program funds will be used to reconstruct 15 homes, elevate 25 homes and buyout 152 properties so the homeowners can find housing outside the floodplain.
The awards include:
• Town of Fair Bluff, $3,651,710 to buyout 34 properties.
• Pender County, $2,091,805 to elevate 14 homes.
• Robeson County, $2,098,914 to reconstruct 15 homes.
• Town of Windsor, $5,271,964 to buyout 34 properties (four pending historical clearance) and elevate 11 homes (one pending historical clearance).
Fourteen of the properties -- including nine in Seven Springs and five in Windsor -- have been conditionally approved pending final environmental reviews to ensure there is no adverse historical impact.
Crumpler said he is unsure what that entails.
For the remaining 178 properties that FEMA approved, the state can now enter into the required project agreements with the receiving counties and towns and discuss program requirements.
It is then up to each local government to select contractors and begin the actual demolition work.
The city or county will distribute the grant funds to the homeowner and will then be reimbursed by N.C. Emergency Management.
Friday's announcement brings the total amount of Hazard Mitigation Grants awarded in North Carolina for Hurricane Matthew to $71.7 million for 558 properties.
State emergency management officials anticipate approximately $115 million total in Hazard Mitigation Grant Program grants will be awarded in North Carolina by early August to help Matthew survivors get into more flood-resistant homes.
The federal program uses a combination of federal and state funds to elevate, reconstruct or buyout qualified homeowners whose home is at risk of repeated damage from flooding.
Following major disasters, a percentage of total federal recovery funds is designated to develop more resilient communities using one of the approved methods.
North Carolina earned the status of an Enhanced Hazard Mitigation state based on its thorough plan and program history, meaning a larger portion of the program is paid for by federal funds
That enhanced status, which FEMA renewed in May, translated into an additional $25 million to help 210 more homeowners following Hurricane Matthew.
There are two funds available.
The first is the Hazard Mitigation Grant Program recovery project that is made up of 84 property buyouts currently approved.
The second program, North Carolina's Community Development Block Grant-Disaster Recovery, will help with housing repairs, homeowner reimbursement and other housing-related issues.
It is funded by the federal government through the U.S. Housing and Urban Development. Applications for that fund are being accepted through ReBuild NC Application Centers.