NC Senate budget writer offers glimpse at Helene relief numbers
NC Senate budget writer offers glimpse at Helene relief numbers
Clayton Henkel, NC NewslineWed, June 24, 2026 at 9:08 AM UTC
0
For many residents of western North Carolina affected by Hurricane Helene, it's been 20 long months of waiting and wondering — when will things get back to normal? And just how much more funding is coming from the government?
Sen. Ralph Hise (R-Mitchell) told members of the Governor's Advisory Committee on Western North Carolina Recovery Monday that legislators are working to finalize the state budget, but the exact appropriation for Hurricane Helene relief has yet to be settled on.
"I have no idea if that's going to be a separate bill or if that's going to be built into the budget as we come out with that," said Hise. "But the biggest portion of it is obviously the state match for the federal government. I think that's about $450 million to this point."
Hise, a co-chair on the Senate Appropriations Committee, calls that a "continuing number" that is likely to rise as more federal money comes in. The state is required to earmark a percentage of matching funds.
Hise said one of the biggest challenges for budget writers is trying to get their hands around FEMA's funding process and which local issues and rebuilding projects will qualify for federal funding.
"The risk is when we've heard nothing from FEMA on a lot of these projects, even water and sewer and those kinds of things," said Hise. "If you put state money towards them and they're ultimately awarded in the FEMA process, FEMA will reduce whatever the state gets."
Hise said in cases where local governments are assured a project may not meet federal guidelines and may be denied, legislators have been receptive to allowing them to request state funds to shorten the wait time on critical projects.
Sen. Kevin Corbin (R-Cherokee) says about $2.4 billion in state money has directly been spent on Helene recovery with an additional $2 billion redirected from state agencies to assist in rebuilding. Nonprofit and philanthropic partners have contributed $1.4 billion. The federal government has provided just over $9 billion in recovery funds.
A single family home is completed in Black Mountain, N.C., after Hurricane Helene. Through state and federally funded efforts, the state has repaired or rebuilt more than 1,000 homes, with more than 2,800 others in process.
Still, Corbin says more federal funding is critically needed. He traveled to Washington with Governor Josh Stein earlier this month to encourage the state's congressional delegation to push for $10 billion in additional funding for western North Carolina. The bulk of the request — more than $3 billion — is needed to repair and rebuild damaged homes and recover lost housing stock.
The federal funding request also included $300 million for private roads and bridges to restore access to homes and emergency services. More than 3,000 eligible applications have been submitted to the state's private roads and bridges program, overwhelming the pool of money that was initially set aside.
"I think we're possibly looking at putting another $100 million into private roads and bridges from state funding," said Corbin.
Advertisement
That figure would match what Stein requested from the legislature back in March for the third phase of Hurricane Helene recovery funding.
Another critical part of the ongoing recovery is improving communication.
Major Kevin Owens with the North Carolina State Highway Patrol said Monday they are hoping the upcoming state budget will include funding for 31 additional towers for the Voice Interoperability Plan for Emergency Responders network, commonly called the VIPER system.
VIPER is North Carolina's statewide public safety communications system that provides reliable and secure digital voice communications to first responders, law enforcement and partner agencies.
Owens says the VIPER network was the only way communication got through in the first few weeks after Helene.
Seventy-five percent of cell sites in the Helene-affected counties were out of service; 200,000 wire or land line subscribers were also left without a way to communicate. More than 1,700 miles of fiber were damaged or destroyed, according to the Land of Sky Regional Council.
Owen said the additional towers and planned upgrades to allow automatic data traffic rerouting would mean zero downtime on VIPER in a future emergency.
"The robustness of the network would be even greater in the readiness of any future natural disaster that we may experience," said Owens.
The Governor's Advisory Committee on Western North Carolina Recovery meets again July 17. Members are hoping by then they may have more clarity on the latest federal funding request, as well as what state legislators have agreed to fund.
Deputy Editor Clayton Henkel manages the NC Newsline website and daily newsletter, while also producing the weekly News and Views radio program/podcast.
NC Newsline is part of States Newsroom, the nation's largest state-focused nonprofit news organization.
This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: Billions more needed in NC Hurricane Helene recovery, politicians say
Source: “AOL Breaking”
