In 2020, North Carolina will still be trying to recover from 2016 and 2018 hurricanes
Our reporters are writing about what they expect to be some of the big topics on their beats in 2020.
In 2020, North Carolina will continue trying to balance the recovery from two major hurricanes and another that devastated isolated areas with efforts to make the state better prepared for future storms.
Central to those efforts is the N.C. Office of Recovery and Resiliency, or NCORR, which formally launched in January 2019 to oversee the spending of federal disaster dollars, specifically funds from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Community Development Block Grant disaster recovery program (CDBG-DR).
As 2019 draws to a close, North Carolina has received and NCORR is administering $236.5 million in CDBG-DR funds for recovery from 2016’s Hurricane Matthew. As of mid-December, NCORR had committed $156.9 million of that money. The number of homes with construction underway or complete had grown in a year from 19 to 541. HUD shifted the state’s classification from “slow spender” to “on pace” in October.
NCORR is finalizing an action plan outlining how it will spend $168 million in CDBG-Mitigation funds for Hurricane Matthew. “Mitigation” funds are a separate pool of money from “disaster recovery” funds.
The state’s draft plan for the mitigation money has the state spending $109.2 million buying out homes, the majority of which would be in the six HUD-designated most impacted and distressed counties. An additional $42 million will support affordable housing efforts.
Under a projected timeline laid out by NCORR, the mitigation fund buyouts will be completed by April 2026, and the affordable housing projects will be finished by April 2028.
Still waiting for Florence funds
NCORR is also awaiting action from HUD so it can begin working to access $542 million in Florence disaster recovery funds. The Florence fund comes from two awards: $336.5 million announced in May 2019 and $206.1 million announced in December. In neither instance has HUD published a Federal Register notice outlining how the grant money can be used, meaning NCORR can’t write an action plan stating how it will use the money. Thus, the state cannot yet access the funds.
HUD’s announcing the second round of Florence money before publishing the first notice caused Gov. Roy Cooper to express frustration and reignited calls for reform to the federal government’s long-term recovery funding process.
It would not be surprising if disaster relief became a political issue, especially in the N.C. Governor’s race, as General Assembly Republicans have blasted the Cooper administration for slow spending of federal dollars, complaints that have lessened as spending picks up.
On Ocracoke, the storm-battered island is recovering from 2019’s Hurricane Dorian, trying to return to normal in time for tourist season. In Trenton and Fair Bluff and Burgaw and other places, meanwhile, the long recovery from Florence and Matthew trudges on. Many people in those areas and others like them are still displaced, living with family or in trailers parked in the front yards of flood-damaged homes. Some survivors are relying on food pantries to eat.
Parts of rural North Carolina will have their futures shaped by the joint recovery from Hurricanes Matthew and Florence, a story that will be playing out for years.
This reporting is financially supported by Report for America/GroundTruth Project and The North Carolina Local News Lab Fund, a component fund of the North Carolina Community Foundation. The News & Observer maintains full editorial control of the work.
Adam Wagner covers recovery and resilience efforts in North Carolina. For smart, reliable and timely coverage of the issues you care about, subscribe to The News & Observer at newsobserver.com/subscribe or subscribe to The Herald-Sun at heraldsun.com/subscribe.