Special to IFN

RALEIGH — Gov. Roy Cooper on Wednesday shared a state budget recommendation to help Western North Carolina rebuild stronger from Hurricane Helene to withstand future storms.

The governor recommends an initial $3.9 billion package to begin rebuilding critical infrastructure, homes, businesses, schools, and farms damaged during the storm.

“Helene is the deadliest and most damaging storm ever to hit North Carolina,“ Cooper said. “This storm left a trail of destruction in our beautiful mountains that we will not soon forget, but I know the people of Western North Carolina are determined to build back better than ever. These initial funds are a good start, but the staggering amount of damage shows we are very much on the front end of this recovery effort.”

Initial damage estimates are $53 billion, roughly three times Hurricane Florence estimates in 2018 and the largest in state history. A strong recovery will require significant investments by private insurers as well as the federal, state and local governments.

Large scale disasters fueled by climate change in recent years have shown the challenges and enormous costs of recovery as well as the need to ensure structures are hardened are they are rebuilt to withstand future storms. Successful recoveries require significant early investments to ensure communities have the tools to fully rebuild.

Economy

The economic devastation from Hurricane Helene is unparalleled. Thousands of businesses in the region suffered damages leaving business owners and workers suffering. The governor’s funding package includes $650 million to address economic losses and physical damage for non-agricultural businesses and non-profit organizations. This would include a revival of the pandemic-era Business Recovery Grant Program, which helped North Carolina’s economy recover faster than the national average. Governor Cooper has already increased unemployment insurance benefits through an executive order with a bipartisan and unanimous vote of the Council of State.

Housing

Cooper’s budget recommendation includes $650 million to address physical damage to residential structures and cost of housing assistance. These investments would jumpstart permanent housing construction in advance of potential federal funds, which can take months or years to be approved.

Utilities and Natural Resources

Critical and high-risk infrastructure was damaged across the region, including water and sewer systems in multiple communities and power generation facilities. Much of this infrastructure is in geographically isolated locations and challenging to reach, slowing restoration of services to communities. The governor’s funding package includes $578 million to address the physical damage and cleanup of energy, water, waste clean-up, telecommunications, dams and other infrastructure.

Transportation

Hurricane Helene severely impacted approximately 5,000 miles of state-maintained roads across the affected area in Western North Carolina, including several major national interstates and critical transportation corridors. The proposed funding package includes $55 million to address physical damage and state revenue implications of the transportation infrastructure damage.

Agriculture

The funding package includes $422 million to address physical damage and business disruption for agricultural enterprises. This storm caused significant damage to hundreds of thousands of acres of agricultural land and hundreds of structures.

Recovering From Additional Recent Disasters

As North Carolina is still recovering from other recent natural disasters, Cooper’s proposed budget includes $420 million for needs related to PTC-8, Tropical Storm Debby, and funds to complete homeowner assistance for Hurricanes Florence and Matthew.