Before Hurricane Helene devastated parts of western North Carolina and Hurricane Milton charged across Florida, Brunswick County commissioners were raising concerns about the federal government’s depleted disaster relief funding.
One week after an unnamed storm dumped more than 16 inches of rain last month on parts of the county, commissioners adopted a resolution “unequivocally” supporting Congress fully fund the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s disaster relief fund and replenish the more than $6.1 billion the agency was forced to transition to immediate needs funding.
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When immediate needs funding goes into effect, funding for nonlifesaving and life-sustaining projects is put on hold so that the agency can get critical supplies like food, water and generators to communities in the wake of a natural disaster.
But the funding shift also creates a backlog in aid to local governments awaiting long-term disaster relief aid, which places “an undue burden on disaster survivors and local governments, and complicates already onerous programs with many counties relying on loans to cover recovery costs,” according to Brunswick’s resolution.
Congress in late September provided $20 billion for the disaster relief fund as part of a short-term spending bill to fund the government through Dec. 20 and, on Sept. 30, FEMA lifted the immediate needs funding status.
But, unless Congress acts this month, FEMA will likely have to reenact that funding.
The $20 billion Congress allocated to the disaster relief fund last month pales in comparison to the latest damage cost assessment from Hurricane Helene, a storm data analytics company CoreLogic estimates to range between $30.5 billion and $47.5 billion.
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Hurricane Milton’s destructive path across an already hurricane-battered Florida is expected to rack up tens of billions more in damage.
“You’ve got to remember, there’s still a long line of disasters that happened before Oct. 1 that need to be paid for and so that fund is going to be depleted quickly,” said Brunswick County Commissioner Chair Randy Thompson, referring to the start of the federal fiscal year. “My guess is that fund is going to, once they start working on this disaster, it’s probably going to end up impacting it considerably to the point of it may put them right back in the same situation that they were in almost immediately.”
Thompson was speaking with Coastal Review by telephone Oct. 2 from somewhere in Avery County, one of the areas pummeled by Hurricane Helene when the storm swept up the Gulf Coast into Florida’s Big Bend north through western North Carolina.
He is chief executive officer of Thompson Disaster Recovery Associates Inc., a consulting firm that provides services to local, state and federal agencies. He had already been to three counties in the western part of the state, which suffered unprecedented flooding caused by Helene’s rains, when he was reached by phone.
“I have never seen anything like this,” he said. “There’ll be recovery, but this is a life-changer. I’m not sure what things will look like for a long time.”
As of Oct. 10, the death toll from Helene had risen to at least 230 across six states, including 88 confirmed in North Carolina.
On the same day Thompson spoke with Coastal Review, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas announced that FEMA could meet immediate needs, but that the agency does not have enough funding to last through hurricane season, which ends Nov. 30.
In an Oct. 1 letter, several congressional leaders, including Senators Thom Tillis and Ted Budd from North Carolina, suggested Congress meet before both chambers are to return to session next month.
“Although the true level of devastation is still unfolding, it is clear that Congress must act to meet the unmet needs in our states and address the scope and scale of destruction experienced by our constituents,” the letter states, referring to Hurricane Helene. “This may even require Congress to come back in October to ensure we have enough time to enact legislation before the end of this calendar year.”
In a White House press briefing Thursday afternoon, Mayorkas, speaking via video conference from western North Carolina, said FEMA will be able to provide immediate needs relief to recent hurricane-battered areas.
“When Congress returns we will need them to act quickly to appropriately fund the disaster relief fund, upon which FEMA relies to deliver assistance to people after extreme weather events,” he said. “And so, we can meet the immediate needs, we will need funding, very rapidly.”
Erin Greten, a lawyer who provides counsel on disaster response and recovery assistance laws with Washington-based firm Baker Donelson, P.C., said in an email response to Coastal Review’s questions that if Congress does not act quickly, FEMA is likely to impose immediate needs funding, or INF, restrictions “again soon.”
“Congress is long overdue on passing a disaster supplemental to help FEMA support the costs of recent large events,” Greten said. “If Congress fails to act quickly, and FEMA is forced to re-enact INF restrictions, communities who rely on FEMA for their recovery will suffer.”
FEMA public assistance grants, for example, are reimbursement grants, which means an applicant has to submit a request for reimbursement after it has paid for the work.
“Most applicants do not have funds available to advance the funding necessary to perform the work without incurring debt,” Greten said. “If Congress fails to sufficiently fund the (disaster relief fund) and FEMA is required to apply INF restrictions, FEMA will halt reimbursements for permanent facility repairs and replacements, causing communities to accrue unnecessary financing costs through no fault of their own.”
Thompson said when counties and local governments pull money from their fund balances to meet emergency needs, they rely on federal reimbursement.
At the time this report was published, Brunswick County had not received a federal or state declaration for damage caused by the unnamed storm that flooded properties and washed out well-traveled bridges and roads.
As Brunswick recovers from the hit it took from the unnamed storm last month, the county has received numerous calls and questions from residents there about how they can help provide aid to fellow North Carolinians in the western part of the state, according to the county’s website.
The county estimates it has spent about $2.8 million directly related to the storm, including damages to county property, “and that insurance will not likely cover,” according to information provided by Brunswick County Communications Director Meagan Kascsak.
“However, this number is subject to change as we are still assessing expenditures from the storm,” she wrote.
Under a federal declaration, FEMA reimburses 75% of the total cost, Thompson explained. North Carolina has historically provided a 25% match.
“That part of it is something that is extremely important, but if you don’t get assistance and payback from FEMA and if it’s extended over long periods of time it actually could hurt the local government in their preparation of having a fund balance to be able to address immediate needs as they come up,” Thompson said. “This is huge for everybody and for us to pick it up as a local jurisdiction, this is something that impacts the nation, not just little Brunswick County.”
