With dozens of western North Carolina communities heavily damaged from Hurricane Helene, disaster funding bills are likely to come before Congress and the state legislature in the coming weeks and months.
Both President Joe Biden and U.S. Sen. Thom Tillis said Monday that a new federal funding bill will be needed, although specific dollar amounts and programs aren't yet clear.
"While the top focus right now is on supporting rescue operations and ensuring the safety of everyone in harm’s way, Sen. Tillis will be aggressively pursuing federal long-term assistance for families and communities left devastated from the flooding," Tillis spokesman Daniel Keylin said in an email. "They need to be made whole again. Sen. Tillis previously led efforts to secure billions of dollars of long-term federal recovery assistance in the aftermath of Hurricanes Matthew and Florence, and we will do so again for the victims of Helene."
Biden said a special session of Congress is "something I may have to request" but "no decision has been made yet." In the meantime, he plans to travel to the Asheville area later this week and says that FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell is already there and will be based there "until the situation has stabilized."
FEMA said in a news release Monday that it has so far sent 200 ambulances to North Carolina as well as support teams to help hospitals in Asheville and Spruce Pine. A total of 10 federal search and rescue teams are in the state with nine more coming for a total of 900 people.
In addition to the congressional action, the North Carolina legislature typically passes disaster recovery funding in the wake of major hurricanes. Lawmakers have been scheduled to return to Raleigh on Oct. 9 for a brief session, but it's unclear if the funding needs will be clear enough at that point to appropriate funding. Another session is already on the calendar for mid-November.
In 2016, for example, the legislature held a special session in December to approve $200 million to address recovery needs from Hurricane Matthew, which hit Eastern North Carolina two months earlier.
State government has several funds available to address the needs, including $720 million in the state's emergency response and disaster reserve and $4.8 billion in the state's general savings reserve, according to a recent report from the Office of State Controller.
House Speaker Tim Moore toured some of the affected areas in Rutherford and Polk counties on Monday, including the destruction of the village of Chimney Rock. Moore's House district includes part of Rutherford County. N.C. Senate leader Phil Berger said in a Sunday news release that while it "will take time to know the full catastrophic nature of this storm ... the General Assembly stands ready to take the necessary steps to help our neighbors in western North Carolina."
Gov. Roy Cooper was also in the Asheville area on Monday with N.C. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kody Kinsley and FEMA officials.
Relief efforts are ongoing in western North Carolina. Today, Gov. Cooper and @FEMA_Deanne visited Mission Hospital in Asheville to thank staff and get an operations update from hospital officials as they continue to provide critical services. pic.twitter.com/ESH9AbNOKj
— Governor Roy Cooper (@NC_Governor) September 30, 2024
One point of concern for elected officials has been the communication failures in western North Carolina, with cell phone and internet service down for days across multiple counties. Keylin says Tillis wants to address that problem to ensure it doesn't happen again in future emergencies.
"The telecommunications failures are unacceptable and tragic and something that must be accounted for," Keylin said. "It is vital for the state to have plans and infrastructure in place, so this failure doesn’t happen again during future storms."
FEMA says it has provided 40 Starlink satellite systems to restore emergency communications, directing them to emergency operations centers in each of the affected counties.
