On a sunny Monday morning, Gov. Roy Cooper, U.S. FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell and other statewide officials gathered at the Big Lots/Innsbrook Mall – one of the Community Care Stations in Asheville – to give an update on Hurricane Helene recovery efforts.
“Just after the storm, more than a million customers were without power,” Cooper said. “This morning, that number is now down to 5,400. The NCDOT has already reopened more than 750 of the 1,200 roads that were closed after the storm.”
NCDOT has identified more than 7,400 damage sites in WNC, that includes 120 bridges that need to be replaced.
NC Secretary of Transportation Joey Hopkins said they estimate about $5 billion is needed to restore transportation infrastructure in NC.
Cooper also added that FEMA has 1,400 staff in North Carolina, registered over 206,000 people for individual assistance and given out over $124 million to those impacted by Helene directly.
He praised many other federal departments that have continued to help North Carolina. He called for a stop to deliberate disinformation and misinformation ahead of former President Donald Trump’s visit to Asheville.
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“It hurts the very people we are all trying to help. It discourages and makes people fearful of signing up for help,” Cooper said. “It enables scam artists and it hurts the morale of government officials, first responders and soldiers who are on the ground trying to help.”
Following Cooper was Criswell, who addressed FEMA’s work in North Carolina and explained a new initiative to hire community liaisons in Helene impacted counties.
“They are the local voice, the trusted voice in their community, and they can share with us the local considerations and the concerns so we can include them as part of this recovery,” Criswell said. “They're going to be embedded in every county, working directly with county administrators, mayors and community leaders bridging their concerns.”
The damaged road infrastructure still affects counties throughout WNC, despite the progress.
Department of Public Safety Secretary Eddie Buffaloe Jr. was also in attendance to give an update on statewide fatalities and missing people.
“Unfortunately and sadly, we have 95 storm-related fatalities in 21 counties and based on our NC 211 data, we have 26 that are unaccounted for,” Buffaloe said.
