Stein says federal government ‘has not met the moment’ after Helene

Gov. Josh Stein said the federal government has covered only 8% of Hurricane Helene’s damage to North Carolina in a press conference ahead of Hurricane Erin’s arrival Wednesday.

“We’ve had a healthy working relationship with the federal government over these past 11 months since Hurricane Helene swept through western North Carolina,” Stein said. “In terms of the extent of federal support, it has not met the moment.”

According to Stein, federal agencies including the Federal Emergency Management Administration, U.S. Department of Transportation, and others have provided less than $5 billion in relief toward the roughly $60 billion in damages the state suffered from the disaster.

He expressed dismay that the Trump administration’s response to Helene has been to float ending FEMA altogether.

“The scale of these storms are massive — $60 billion in western North Carolina from Hurricane Helene,” Stein said. “Those kinds of resources don’t exist in western North Carolina to respond. Heck, our state two-year budget is $66 billion, so essentially we would have to forgo the entire two-year budget just to get western North Carolina back to where it was before.”

The state legislature has appropriated more than $1 billion in funding to support Helene recovery since January, though that represents less than 2% of the storm’s toll on the region. In February, Stein traveled to Washington to request $19 billion in relief — meeting with North Carolina senators Thom Tillis and Ted Budd — though in the months since, Congress has not passed further Helene aid.

“We’re going to continue to make our case to our congressional delegation and to the administration to urge them to support western North Carolina to the degree that is necessary,” Stein said. “We need a lot of help for western North Carolina, and we hope that that funding will come.”

Earlier this month, Stein wrote to the Trump administration seeking a major disaster declaration due to the impacts of Tropical Depression Chantal.  That storm left more than 100 roads impassable due to flooding, washouts, sinkholes, and structural damage. Orange County residents forced from their homes by Chantal’s torrential rains pleaded for additional relief on Wednesday.  Many worry they could be homeless when disaster assistance from the county and private citizens runs out at the end of the month.

As for the prospect of federal help in response to Hurricane Erin — projected to bring severe winds and flooding to the North Carolina coast and especially the Outer Banks through Thursday — Stein said it “remains to be seen.”

“We haven’t needed to call upon those resources to respond to the immediate aftermath of the storm,” Stein said. “We just have to wait and see what the extent of the damage is and whether it has any impacts on our ongoing ability to get the support we need from the federal government.”