The value of FEMA’s assistance package to North Carolinians recovering from Hurricane Helene has eclipsed $1 billion.
According to a release from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the state was awarded six months of full federal funding for debris removal and emergency protective measures. The rate remains at 90% today.
FEMA says the state has received:
• $484 million at 100% federal cost share for 180 days.
• $455 million for food, medicine, housing assistance and home repairs.
• $172 million in Public Assistance reimbursements.
• $22.4 million for replacement of private roads and bridges.
The release is a shot back from the government at critics of the embattled program that employs more than 20,000 people and boasts a mission of “helping people before, during and after disasters, and our core values and goals help us achieve it.”
Republican second-term President Donald Trump has suggested states might be better equipped to handle natural disasters and FEMA could be eliminated, though with certain programs transferred elsewhere within the federal government. Some critics say the agency is bogged down in red tape slowing aid to survivors; other critics say lack of oversight results in fraud and waste when using congressionally appropriated money.
In context, it is rare for a natural disaster, federal declaration and FEMA involvement to not eventually also include a howling of complaints.
That said, FEMA took a beating in the storm’s aftermath in North Carolina on a trio of fronts.
One was the timing of words from the Biden administration’s Homeland Security secretary, another was action by workers for FEMA involving campaign yard signs, and a third was an indirect tie to revelation immigrants to include the notorious Venezuelan gang called Tren de Aragua were staying in luxury New York City hotels.
This weekend commences the 37th week of recovery from the storm that claimed the lives of 107 in North Carolina, 236 across seven states, and did an estimated $60 billion in damage in the Tarheel State. It is arguably the worst natural disaster in state history.
The storm made landfall as a Category 4 hurricane in Dekle Beach, Fla., on Sept. 26. It was expected to come north to the Appalachian Mountains; however, the rainfall total from its dissipation there exceeded all forecasts.
Some places got more than 30 inches, most were at 24 inches or more. Due to terrain, water often rushed before it pooled and flooded – very unlike the hurricane flooding that happens in the coastal plains.
North Carolina lawmakers are considering a $450 million spending package for Hurricane Helene recovery that would push General Assembly appropriations to $1.85 billion.
The General Assembly passed three packages last year and another this spring. A congressional package of $110 billion passed in December included about $9 billion for the state. FEMA assistance grants and packages have eclipsed $1 billion.
Money and FEMA, however, were always going to be lingering lightning rods once the storm hit.
A previous occasion explained by The Center Square involved Alejandro Mayorkas, former secretary of Homeland Security, telling White House press corps on a plane to North Carolina in the first week of recovery that “FEMA does not have the funds to make it through the season and what – what is imminent.”
His comment from the transcript was paired with an April release from FEMA on $640 million for migrants and ignited across the political spectrum less than five weeks before a presidential Election Day.
Hurricane recovery comes from a Disaster Relief Fund – a different pot of money for FEMA. And lost on Mayorkas was the reality of congressional action a full week earlier.
As explained by U.S. Rep. Virginia Foxx, R-N.C., at the time on a Fox News Radio interview, she was asked if Congress should reconvene to appropriate more money. She responded, “Actually, no, that’s not necessary because we passed the continuing resolution and we fully funded the government as of Oct. 1st. The speaker has pointed this out before. When they say they don’t have money, their budgets are complete.
“They have all the money they need. We funded the federal government in September before we left. And so, there is no need for Congress to go back and give supplemental funding.”
Congress, however, did eventually send more funding in December. And more is still being requested.
In the Nov. 11 edition of the Roland Martin Unfiltered Daily Digital Show, Marn’i Washington was interviewed. Washington was identified as a disaster survivor assistance crew leader for the Federal Emergency Management Agency fired from her job.
“Homes are skipped,” Washington says after a lengthy back-and-forth with Martin to describe the job, the encounters and the instructions from the agency led by then-FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell and Mayorkas. “The American people need to know that. If we are approached with hostility, or our people feel uncomfortable, we do disengage.”
Washington said workers did so for homes not only with Donald Trump signs, but also for Kamala Harris and Joe Biden, and homes with no signs.
FEMA’s other albatross as it handled North Carolina’s disaster arose from New York.
Republican Reps. Foxx, Mark Harris, Pat Harrigan, Addison McDowell and Chuck Edwards earlier this year asked Homeland Security for a “full accounting of funds obligated by FEMA staff for the aiding and abetting of the illegal alien invasion during the Biden administration or in the current Trump administration, whether through the Shelter and Services Program, or other accounts.”
The first three of five questions asked for an update on the $59 million sent and used for five luxury hotels in New York City; how the expenditure was allocated, through which organization’s request and purchase; and if any Disaster Relief Fund money went to “illegal alien housing in the past six months.”
The Department of Homeland Security, an email to The Center Square, did not confirm or deny a connection or impact to relief efforts in western North Carolina. FEMA’s chief financial officer, two program analysts, and a grant specialist were fired after the Department of Government Efficiency team then led by Elon Musk discovered the $59 million in payments.
Noem confirmed the Tren de Aragua gang from Venezuela utilized the housing as a base of operations, and confirmed that the convicted killer of Laken Riley had stayed there.
FEMA money is not all from the same allocation. For example, relief for hurricanes like Helene and fires in California would typically transition through the Disaster Relief Fund.
According to FEMA.gov, the Shelter and Services Program – a $650 million recipient in 2024 from congressional appropriation in the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2023 – provides “financial support to non-federal entities to provide sheltering and related activities to noncitizen migrants following their release from the Department of Homeland Security. The intent is to support U.S. Customs and Border Protection in the safe, orderly, and humane release of noncitizen migrants from short-term holding facilities.”
