A federal judge last week ordered the Trump administration to restore millions in disaster mitigation funds previously awarded for projects across the country, including dozens in North Carolina.

U.S. District Court Judge Richard G. Stearns last Friday granted a motion to force the Federal Emergency Management Agency to reinstate its Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities, or BRIC, program.

Stearns is the same judge who, on Dec. 11, 2025, sided with North Carolina Attorney General Jeff Jackson and 19 other state attorneys general, declaring FEMA unlawfully terminated the BRIC program.

Roughly $200 million had already been awarded to North Carolina communities, including those in coastal counties, for projects aimed at reducing and preventing storm damage, when the Trump administration decided to axe BRIC.

Despite Stearns’ issuance of an immediate, permanent injunction restoring BRIC, the administration has yet to comply and release the funds.

Jackson joined other attorneys general in heading back to court to ask the judge to force FEMA to comply.

“FEMA tried to cancel $200 million for North Carolina,” Jackson stated in a March 6 release. “We took them to court, we won, and then they defied the court order and refused to pay. So we just took them back to court – and won again. FEMA has 14 days to show the court they are complying. The clock is ticking, and we are ready to do this again if necessary.”

FEMA has 14 days from the time of the judge’s order to identify all selected, phased, and pending BRIC projects, and provide the steps the agency must take to reverse the termination of the program and provide a timeline to the states for existing project funding. The agency has also been ordered to open new grant applications within 21 days of the March 6 ruling.

Part of a series about the effects federal budget and staff cuts and the cancellations of programs and services are having in coastal North Carolina.

The call from the North Carolina Attorney General’s office late last year relayed news of a victory.

A federal judge in Boston on Dec. 11, 2025, sided with Jeff Jackson and 19 other state attorneys general in their case against the Federal Emergency Management Agency, informed the caller.

U.S. District Court Judge Richard G. Stearns ruled that FEMA unlawfully terminated a federal grant program under which roughly $200 million had been awarded to North Carolina communities, including Pollocksville, to tailor projects to reduce and prevent storm damage.

Stearns issued an immediate, permanent injunction restoring the Building Resilient Infrastructures and Communities, or BRIC, program.

“And, that’s all we’ve heard,” Pollocksville Mayor Jay Bender said. “We’ve never heard anything official from FEMA saying yay or nay. We have not heard anything from North Carolina Emergency Management saying yay or nay.”

FEMA funnels BRIC grants to state emergency management offices, which are responsible for managing and passing funds on to grant recipients.

N.C. Division of Emergency Management’s Justin Graney, chief of external affairs and communications, said in an email that the agency had not been notified by FEMA as to when funding would be released.

“NCEM continues to work closely with FEMA to determine the next steps and looks forward to a resolution,” Graney said.

But any such resolution could be, at a minimum, months away.

The federal government still has time to appeal Stearns’ decision. The 60-day window to challenge his ruling closes before the middle of next month.

The N.C. Department of Justice’s communications office confirmed in an Jan. 26 email that FEMA had, at that time, not filed an appeal in the case.

“We are closely monitoring FEMA’s compliance with the court order,” the email states.

FEMA’s news desk at its regional office in Atlanta did not respond to requests for comment. 

The agency announced without any forewarning last April it was canceling the BRIC program, one created under President Donald Trump’s first term in office.

But just three months or so into Trump’s second term, an unnamed FEMA spokesperson stated in the announcement that the agency considered BRIC to be “wasteful” and “political.”

FEMA later clarified only projects that had been completed would be fully funded, erasing congressionally appropriated funding for more than 60 infrastructure projects in North Carolina.

Jackson joined a lawsuit filed last July by a coalition of state attorneys general who argued FEMA’s termination of the program was unlawful.

The court agreed, concluding that FEMA did not have the authority to end BRIC because Congress, not the federal agency, appropriated funds for that program.

“The BRIC program is designed to protect against natural disasters and save lives,” Stearns wrote.

“Our towns spent years doing everything FEMA asked them to do to qualify for this funding, and they were in the middle of building real protections against storms when FEMA suddenly broke its word,” Jackson said in a release following the court ruling. “Keeping water systems working and keeping homes out of floodwater isn’t politics – it’s basic safety.”

Pollocksville and Leland were selected to each receive about $1.1 million through the BRIC program.

Leland plans to relocate the town’s sewer system away from Sturgeon Creek from which floodwaters rise often after storms and natural disasters.

Jessica Jewell, Leland’s communications manager, said in an email that the town is exploring other grant opportunities to help fund their project.

At the time of FEMA’s announcement last April, Pollocksville had already paid out about $18,000 in legal, advertising and procurement fees ahead of the project the Jones County town had secured to raise six commercial buildings in its downtown next to the Trent River.

“I mean, this is a project that we thought was done,” Bender said. “We had a contractor. That was probably one of the most frustrating things. We were already under contract.”

Before the state attorneys general filed their lawsuit, town officials were contacted by the state and encouraged to submit their project proposal through the Hazard Mitigation Grant program. The HMGP is federally funded, but managed by the state Division of Emergency Management.

“Having to file all the same paperwork over – I don’t know that I can convey to you the complexity of the paperwork,” Bender said. “The positive thing about this, going through HMGP as opposed to going through FEMA, is that HMGP will be at no cost to the town. There’s no match and so that will obviously make it a more financially attractive proposal than FEMA.”

He went on to say that the town will take “the best deal that comes the quickest.”

“I will feel much more confident when there is an actual piece of paper to sign and when I see people on the street preparing elevate a building,” he said.

JACKSONVILLE – When the proposed flood insurance rate maps for Onslow County were released back in 2016, Jacksonville officials were surprised to say the least.

The preliminary maps created under North Carolina’s Flood Plain Mapping Program shifted more than 800 additional structures in downtown Jacksonville into a high-hazard flood zone.

“Jacksonville had the highest number percentage-wise increase of anywhere in the state,” said Ryan King, the city’s director of planning and inspections. “That was an eye opener for us because, if you look at it, we don’t have a lot of areas that flood. We don’t have a lot of structures that flood. Now, we have some, don’t get me wrong, but we don’t have a lot.”

King spoke with Coastal Review last week during an open house the city hosted for residents and business leaders to review and discuss proposed updated flood studies and revisions to the maps that have been made following the city’s appeal.

Special flood hazard areas, or SFHAs, are identified as areas with a 1% or higher annual risk of a flood. Unlike moderate to low-risk areas, where flood insurance is recommended, but optional, flood insurance and federally backed mortgages are required in high-risk zones.

Jane Sutton and her husband have opted against buying flood insurance, telling Coastal Review that their property, two blocks from the New River, does not have a history of flooding.

“I can tell you as long as I’ve lived here and as many hurricanes as I’ve lived through our neighborhood has never flooded,” Sutton said.

The couple were among the first area residents who trickled into the open house last Wednesday. They were relieved to learn their property will not be affected under the proposed revised maps.

Under the 2016 preliminary maps, which were largely based on storm surge modeling, many downtown homes would have to have been elevated, some as much as 10 feet. That would be on top of the city’s 3-foot freeboard requirement above base flood elevation.

“In the downtown area, which is an area that jumped out at me, you went to an elevation of 10,” King said. “I think that area should be in a flood zone because the houses do flood. But I think the number seemed off at 10 feet.”

There were other things that raised city staff’s concerns. Some properties in Carolina Forest, a residential neighborhood of townhomes and single-family homes roughly 5 miles from downtown, were included in a flood zone based on data from 2000, King said.

Construction of that neighborhood didn’t get underway until after that year.

After city staff shared their concerns with Jacksonville City Council, the board agreed to hire design, engineering and consulting firm Applied Technology & Management Inc. to take a deep dive into some of the discrepancies being pointed out by staff.

The city formally appealed 33 blocks, or areas of land divided into smaller sections on flood maps, identified in the revised maps the Federal Emergency Management Agency released in 2016.

North Carolina received FEMA’s approval some two decades ago to take over the state’s Flood Plain Mapping Program, a move supported by those who believed map updates are best handled at the local level by people who are familiar with the areas under review.

Revised preliminary maps were released in late March 2024.

The maps incorporate newer data, including information gathered using LiDAR, or Light Detection and Ranging, which uses laser light to measure distances and create detailed models of the environment.

The proposed revised maps do not, however, factor in sea level rise.

“And we know, from what I’ve been told, the next revision will incorporate sea level rise so we want to make sure that we get it right this time because I think it’s just going to stack on top of it as we move forward. So, this is almost like the new baseline,” he said.

Beginning Sept. 18, property owners will have 90 days to appeal the 2024 revisions. That appeal period closes on Dec. 18.

King encourages Jacksonville property owners to contact their insurance agents to inquire about flood policies.

“It’s worth reaching out to find out to protect your property, but that’s a conversation the homeowner needs to have with the insurance company,” he said.

Part of a series about the effects federal budget and staff cuts and the cancellations of programs and services are having in coastal North Carolina.

POLLOCKSVILLE – North Carolina’s attorney general is confident federal funding unceremoniously stripped from local governments earlier this year will be reinstated under a court ruling.

“I think we’re going to win in court,” Jeff Jackson said Tuesday afternoon. “I think our argument is very strong.”

Jackson had just wrapped up a short tour of Pollocksville’s Main Street, where the town’s longtime mayor pointed to building after building tapped to be raised higher off the ground and out of the path of future flooding that might spill over the banks of the Trent River.

“This building’s got great potential,” Mayor Jay Bender said as the two men strolled a sidewalk toward the river. One that, in September 2018, rose more than 25 feet when Hurricane Florence dumped more than 30 inches of rain.

Floodwaters forced most of the town’s residents to evacuate and destroyed or damaged more than 80% of its buildings.

“There’s nothing woke, there’s nothing political, there’s nothing wasteful,” Bender said to Jackson.

There’s also nothing left of the federal program that helped communities tailor projects to reduce and prevent damage from future storms.

Four days before Pollocksville officials were to sign contracts to kickstart their project to raise buildings, President Donald Trump’s Federal Emergency Management Agency killed the Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities, or BRIC, grants program.

The agency said only projects that have been completed will be fully funded.

Gone was the nearly $1.1 million in funding this small Jones County town had worked so hard to secure through a process vetted by FEMA for more than 30 months.

“The rug was pulled out from under us,” Bender said.

A coalition of 20 state attorneys general, including Jackson, filed a lawsuit on July 16 in a federal court in Boston accusing FEMA of unlawfully terminating the BRIC program.

“The basic argument is that was not FEMA money to cancel,” Jackson said during a press conference under a picnic shelter in the town’s waterfront park. “That was congressional money. Congress gave that money to FEMA and told FEMA how to spend it. They said we want you to spend it helping small towns like Pollocksville defend themselves against the next flood. That is exactly what Pollocksville was doing with this money.”

Tuesday’s visit to Pollocksville was his second in recent days to a North Carolina town awarded BRIC funding only to have it ripped away.

Several days ago, Jackson went to Hillsborough to visit a pumping station that flooded when Tropical Storm Chantal swept through parts of central North Carolina early this month. Plans were to construct a new pumping station outside of the floodplain with more than $5 million in BRIC funds.

“We’re going in order of indefensibility,” he said Tuesday in what seems to be a campaign of sorts to raise awareness of FEMA’s decision to cut the BRIC program.

Pollocksville is one of 68 towns, cities and counties in the state that have been awarded BRIC grants since the program officially began its first round of funding in 2020. As previously reported by Coastal Review, almost half of the local governments awarded funding are in the 20 coastal counties.

The only completed BRIC project in the state is a living shoreline in Duck.

Congress approved the program in 2018 with bipartisan support and Trump’s signature during his first presidential term. Since then, nearly $5 billion has been committed to communities across the country for projects to elevate buildings and roads, relocate vulnerable sewer pump stations, control flooding, and strengthen building codes.

“Yes, we want to get this money back to Pollocksville,” Jackson said. “If we’re successful it means we get money back for the entire state.”

He said he expects the court will hold a hearing “within the next few weeks” over a request by the attorneys general for an injunction to lift the funds from being blocked.

“That’s been our request that they treat this as an emergency,” Jackson said. “What we want the court to do is say, while this matter is winding its way through court, which will take six to nine months to fully resolve, the money can continue to flow.”

Jackson said there’s no lack of evidence to support the importance of BRIC funding for communities like Pollocksville that are trying to better protect its residents and infrastructure from floods and other natural disasters exacerbated by the changing climate.

“The flood here, the flood in Hillsborough that happened three weeks ago, there’s fresh evidence with respect to an enormous number of these things,” he said.

More buildings in 78 North Carolina counties between 1996 and 2020 were exposed to flooding than previously recognized, and almost half of them were not within the federally designated areas that require flood insurance, a new study finds.

University of North Carolina Chapel Hill researchers used anonymous, address-level National Flood Insurance Program records and observational damage to create maps of 78 flood events that three-quarters of the state experienced during those 25 years to determine which buildings experienced flooding and how often.

They found that more than 90,000 buildings flooded at least once, which they predict is “more than twice the number of flooded buildings compared to those at addresses associated with NFIP claims filed between 1996 and 2020,” according to the study published Monday in Earth’s Future, an Advancing Earth and Space Sciences journal.

The study’s results “illustrate that flood exposure, especially repetitive exposure, is much more widespread than previously recognized” and “demonstrate the value of simulating flood events beyond those that generate the most damage and get the most attention from governments, media, and researchers. This first-of-its-kind database of flood maps can be used to better understand how flood exposure, vulnerability, and risk change over time.”

Lead author Helena Garcia, a doctoral candidate in UNC’s Environment, Ecology, and Energy Program, told Coastal Review that the team mapped the nearly 80 events to look at how much flooding at the building level has occurred across those events in those 25 years.

“We know a lot about some of the larger events, like hurricanes Florence and Matthew, but we had questions about some of the other events, too,” she said.

The team used the flood maps they created to build an index to determine what buildings had flooded and how often.

“When we did that, we found that over 90,000 buildings flooded in at least one of those 78 events, with about a quarter of those buildings, or 20,000 of them, flooding in two or more events,” Garcia said. Adding, that of those events, there were 44 that had tropical cyclone activity, and many of the buildings were damaged during those storms.

These findings provide an estimate of how much repeat exposure is happening, especially outside of the large events, like the fall 2018 Hurricane Florence, Garcia said.

The study shows that 43% of the structures that flooded out of that 90,000 were located outside of the Federal Emergency Management Agency-mapped flood zones, Garcia said. “The people that had flooded during some of those events might not have known or realized that they had flood risk at their property.”

FEMA’s Special Flood Hazard Area, or SFHA, is where the National Flood Insurance Program’s “floodplain management regulations must be enforced and the area where the mandatory purchase of flood insurance applies,” according to FEMA.

Antonia Sebastian, assistant professor in UNC’s Environment, Ecology, and Energy Program and Department of Earth, Marine, and Environmental Sciences, told Coastal Review last week that a key takeaway from the study was how much flooding happened outside of mapped floodplains.

FEMA “floodplains are used as the primary indicator of high-risk areas, but flooding can occur outside of them,” Sebastian said. “We weren’t surprised that we had a lot of flooding outside of floodplains, but I think it’s a really important for people to recognize that even if you live outside of a floodplain, you could flood, and we’re finding some of these repetitive flooding hotspots in areas that aren’t mapped.”

About the study

The study area spans eight watersheds, including the entirety of the Neuse-Pamlico and Cape Fear River watersheds as well as portions of the Chowan-Roanoke and Pee Dee River watersheds.

For the study, the researchers used anonymous records of address-level NFIP policies in force and claims from the mid-1970s to 2020 from FEMA for the 78 counties overlapping these watersheds, which is about 77% of the state’s land area.

They used the available NFIP insurance data to map the flood events because it’s not a time-intensive method like physics-based models, and they could produce the flood maps quicker, Garcia explained.

She added that they would have looked at the entire state but the insurance data the team had access to was only available on the three-quarters of the state.

To determine what flood events to analyze, Garcia said the team established a threshold based on data from the 18 flood-related presidential disaster declarations for the study area from the 25-year period.

“We made sure that our algorithm found all of those (18 events) and also found 60 other events,” she said.

The findings highlight flooding hot spots and that information can be helpful for preparedness, mitigation and resilience efforts for these locations.

“We want to make sure that those are the places we’re putting the funding toward, because they need it the most, Garcia said. “And then in the future, I think it’s something to keep track of, to figure out are these hot spots of repetitive flooding shifting as we see different types of flood events that could be more intense or more widespread.”

One of the challenges the team encountered while working on the study was determining what counts as a flood event, Garcia said.

“There’s definitely flooding that happened over this 25-year time period that doesn’t show up in these 78 events, just because it didn’t fit the algorithm,” she said.

To define the flood events, researchers looked for flooding with at least 15 claims recorded within a seven-day period in the same watershed boundary. They chose that threshold because it included all 18 flood-related FEMA federal disaster declarations that occurred within the study area between 1996 and 2020.

Garcia said the biggest surprise for her was how many buildings experienced flooding and repetitive flooding, and not just on the coast. There are properties in inland areas like Lumberton, Winston-Salem and Chapel Hill.

Sebastian said that while the study answered questions, “the coolest thing about this study is all of the potential types of things we can do now with this information.”

Garcia said that with this data set, “we can look at impacts of floods and outcomes over time a wider range of events than we’ve currently or really been able to do so before,” such as financial and health impacts.

“Here we can focus on multiple events and also what happens when people see repeat exposure over time. So, what I’m doing with that is looking at basically people and their movements through time,” Garcia said, adding that there was also interest in finding out whether people are continuing to stay in these repetitive flooding hotspots or moving to lower their flood risk. “Does your experience with previous flooding kind of inform your next residential move, if you do choose to move?”

This is the first in a series of stories about the effects federal budget and staff cuts and the cancellations of programs and services are having in coastal North Carolina.

POLLOCKSVILLE – Jay Bender is rightfully proud of his town hall. Lovingly restored when it was moved to higher ground a few years ago, the old train depot has come to symbolize the grit of this little river town that a hurricane once tried to drown and its government in far-off Washington now has abandoned.

The mayor for 42 continuous years – a record in North Carolina – Bender fashioned his office to look like one that the stationmaster might have used when the depot was built in 1893. An antique rolltop desk anchors the room, accented by sturdy wooden chairs for visitors and framed railroad maps on the walls.

He led me to the handsome town council chambers with its wide-beamed oak floor and huge, sliding, wooden cargo doors that bear names and other graffiti that people scrawled during the building’s lifetime. “All of this was under water,” explained Bender. “We lost everything. We lost our records. We lost our computers. Everything.”

Related: North Carolina among most successful states for BRIC awards

The depot, which even then served as town hall, was a few blocks away, down on the banks of the Trent River, a pretty, usually placid stream that languidly flows northeast a dozen or so miles to its confluence with the Neuse River in New Bern. In these parts it’s known primarily for its catfish and largemouth bass. It was the little town’s biggest attraction.

Until it became the source of its destruction.

That would have been during those three, grim days in September 2018 when Hurricane Florence dumped more than more 30 inches of rain and unleased a biblical deluge. The river had overflowed its banks before, of course – back in 1999 after Hurricane Floyd, for instance – but never like this. Some experts would later speculate that the Trent hadn’t flooded that badly in maybe 1,000 years. It rose more than 25 feet, covering much of Pollocksville to its rooftops. Most of its 300 or so residents had to be evacuated. More than 80% of its buildings were destroyed or damaged, including every town commissioner’s home.

Bender, living in his grandfather’s old place on high ground, was spared. That’s where they ran the town until the river receded and the power was restored 11 days later.

The slow recovery then began.

Aided by state and federal grants, the town moved and refurbished the waterlogged old depot in 2021 and began getting pieces of its sewer and water systems out of the floodplain. Owners raised some buildings, and the town gussied up U.S. Highway 17, its main road, with a bike path, planters and banners.

The place was starting to look almost normal again, and Bender was feeling optimistic about his town’s revival until the Trump regime in Washington suddenly and without warning pulled the rug out from under him.

Killed without warning

The Federal Emergency Management Agency announced about a month ago that it was cancelling its major grant program that provided seed money to communities that wanted to be better prepared for the next flood or weather catastrophe. FEMA didn’t contact Pollocksville or the 67 other communities in the state that were awarded grants but had not yet received any money. Neither did it notify the N.C. Division of Emergency Management, which administers the grants, or the media. The agency made the surprise announcement on one of its websites after 5 p.m. on a Friday, presumably to attract the least amount of attention.

Bender didn’t find out about the cancellation until the following week. It was the first time a federal grant program had been killed in midstream.

It would be another 12 days before FEMA clarified that only grant projects that had been completed would be totally funded. Those that have started might receive partial funding. Everything else was dead. In North Carolina, that meant almost $186 million in projects intended to help communities ward off weather catastrophes and save lives would have to be shelved unless the recipients could come up with the money elsewhere. That total includes about $81 million in the state’s 20 coastal counties, including $1.1 million for Pollocksville to raise six commercial buildings to revive its downtown.

“Losing the grant is very disappointing,” said Bender, whose town operates on an annual $600,000 budget. “It would have funded the next step in our long-range plan. Replacing the grant money will be difficult.”

The Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities grants, known as BRIC, was the federal government’s showcase program to help communities help themselves by funding projects to lessen and prevent storm damage. It committed almost $5 billion to communities across the country since it was approved by Congress with bipartisan support and signed by Donald Trump in 2018 during his first term. Local governments had planned to use the money to help raise buildings and roads, relocate vulnerable sewer pump stations, control flooding, strengthen building codes and on similar projects to reduce the damage of future storms. The program was so popular that last year FEMA had to reject nearly 2,000 applicants because it didn’t have enough money to go around.

About $1 billion was allocated to the program as part of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act in 2021. Under President Biden, the BRIC grants were key parts of the government’s efforts to address climate change, and a special emphasis was placed on helping Black and other historically underserved communities. It was those directives that likely put BRIC on the regime’s hit list.

‘Wasteful,’ ‘political,’ fearful

An unnamed FEMA spokesperson said in the April announcement that the agency now considers BRIC to be “wasteful” and “political.” I called FEMA’s “news desk” at its regional office in Atlanta several times to get some examples. Each call disappeared into the ether because the number listed on the agency’s regional website didn’t even generate a dial tone. I sent an email to the address listed on the site. It remains unanswered. As do the emails and phone message I sent to the state’s two Republican senators, Thom Tillis and Ted Budd, asking for their reactions.

Many county and town officials also didn’t return emails and phone calls. They watched the bullying of the country’s biggest universities and law firms and heard the threats about withholding federal funds to public schools and museums. They apparently got the message. They would need FEMA someday, and all depended on federal funding for something. Bender understands his counterparts’ desire to remain under the radar. He’s relying partially on federal money to upgrade his water and sewer plants. “We lose this grant and we’re out maybe $20,000,” he said. “But I can’t build half a sewer plant.”

Anna Weber, however, needed no coaxing. She’s a policy analyst for the National Resources Defense Council and helps communities prepare for the violence of an unstable climate. She has a hard time understanding how spending money to prevent death and damage from future storms can suddenly be considered wasteful.

“In fact, investing in adaptation and resiliency against climate change is one of the least wasteful things we can do,“ she said. “It’s actually one of the best investments in preventing future local damage and loss of life from storms.”

She noted that studies have consistently shown that every dollar invested on projects to prevent storm damage results in at least $6 in savings when the pieces later have to be picked up and put back together.

BRIC also seemed to dovetail with the regime’s desire to require states to pay more for cleanup and reconstruction costs after a disaster, Weber said. The grants pay 75% of project costs. The applicant is responsible for the remainder. “These were communities that were doing this right,” she said. “The federal government wanted communities to step up and take some responsibility. These communities did step up and do what the government asked, and now the rug is being pulled out from under them.”

The charge that the grants were doled out as political favors by the Biden administration makes little sense in North Carolina, which Trump carried handily in all three of his elections. The 22 counties, which include the state’s most populous, that Biden won in 2020 received only about a quarter of the grant money, while the 20 coastal counties, many of which Trump won with 60-70% of the vote, received almost 45%.

Jessica Whitehead was North Carolina’s first chief resilience officer and helped evaluate the state’s first BRIC applications in 2020. She’s now director of the Institute for Coastal Adaptation and Resilience at Old Dominion University.

“Politics?” she said. “It never came up.”

No one asked Bender about his politics when the town applied for its BRIC grant.

“This had nothing to do with politics,” he said, “and I don’t know how you can consider it wasteful. This is all about trying to get our town back to normal.”

The state’s southeastern counties hit with historic rainfall in mid-September have been granted a federal major disaster declaration, and eligible residents and businesses can apply now for low-interest disaster loans through the U.S. Small Business Administration.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency declaration Gov. Roy Cooper’s office announced Saturday makes funding available for Brunswick, Carteret, New Hanover and Onslow counties to repair or replace public facilitates damaged between Sept. 15-20 by potential tropical cyclone No. 8.

The low-interest disaster loans Small Business Administration Administrator Isabel Casillas Guzman announced Friday are for those affected by the severe storms and flooding that took place Sept. 16–20 in Brunswick, Columbus, New Hanover and Pender counties, and in Horry County in South Carolina. For more information and to apply online visit sba.gov/disaster.

The governor issued Oct. 16 a State Type 1 Disaster Declaration for individual assistance for Brunswick, Columbus, New Hanover and Pender counties, as well.

“This storm brought historic rainfall and severe flooding to several areas of our state causing significant damage,” Cooper said over the weekend referring to the September storm. “These disaster declarations will help bring needed relief for folks impacted by the storm, including small business owners.”

The Small Business Administration offers disaster loans to businesses, homeowners, renters and private nonprofit organizations that can cover physical damage repairs, expenses for small businesses, funding to prevent future damage and operating expenses for companies with employees on active duty leave.

“The SBA is strongly committed to providing the people of North Carolina with the most effective and customer-focused response possible to assist businesses of all sizes, homeowners and renters with federal disaster loans,” Guzman said. “Getting businesses and communities up and running after a disaster is our highest priority at SBA.”

Cooper requested the disaster assistance in letters sent last week to President Joe Biden and Small Business Administration Director Kem Fleming.

The Small Business Administration has disaster loan outreach centers in place to help with loan applications. Applicants can schedule an in-person appointment or drop by the centers in Brunswick or New Hanover County.

Hours for the Brunswick County center in the Town Creek Community Building in Winnabow are 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday, and from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday. The center will be closed Oct. 29, close at 5 p.m. Oct. 30, and close permanently at noon Nov. 1.

The New Hanover County center at Carolina Beach Town Hall was scheduled to open at 11 a.m. Monday and close at 6 p.m. Hours are 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. through Friday, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, and permanently close at 4 p.m. Monday, Oct. 28.

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.

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.

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.”

This is a developing story and will be updated as needed.

Local, state and federal officials continued their message to be alert as Tropical Storm Debby slowly moved up the coast Thursday, soaking the region with heavy rain.

Throughout the day Thursday, the threat of tornadoes, flash flooding, severe thunderstorms, and excessive rainfall continued across much of the state.

Forecasters with the National Weather Service Newport-Morehead City office said Thursday that Debby made landfall near Bulls Bay in South Carolina early that morning and that it would slowly move toward and through central North Carolina while weakening through the night.

“Primary concern through the day remains the threats of flash flooding and tornadoes,” officials said Thursday.

Gov. Roy Cooper visited the North Carolina Emergency Management Regional Coordination Center East and the North Carolina National Guard Armory in Kinston on Thursday. He was joined by North Carolina Emergency Management Director Will Ray and Federal Emergency Management Agency Federal Coordinating Officer Rod McAllister.

“Tropical Storm Debby continues to bring dangerous rain and flooding to many areas of our state,” Cooper said in a statement. “I’m grateful for the work of first responders and urge people to take precautions against this storm and listen to guidance from state and local Emergency Management officials.”

There was a fatality in the state associated with Tropical Storm Debby and an apparent tornado late Wednesday in Lucama that damaged several homes and a middle school, Cooper’s office said.

As of Thursday, there were 13 storm shelters open in Cumberland, Columbus, Bladen, and Pender counties, 28 county states of emergency declared, and voluntary evacuation orders had been issued for parts of Brunswick and Moore counties.

Cooper signed an executive order declaring a state of emergency Monday and President Biden issued a federal state of emergency for North Carolina on Tuesday.

FEMA said Thursday morning that it had more than 900 staff and federal partners deployed to North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida and Georgia.

Search and rescue teams and swift-water rescue assets were ready to assist as needed, the agency said. FEMA’s Southeast and Mid-Atlantic distribution centers were stocked and ready to provide commodities throughout the region as needed.   

Closures, shelters

Brunswick County closed Thursday all government offices and government-run services with plans to reopen Friday.

North Carolina Maritime Museums in Southport, Beaufort and Hatteras were closed Thursday.

Moores Creek National Battlefield will be closed through the weekend because of flooding caused by Tropical Storm Debby.

The Brunswick County shelter at Town Creek Middle School in Winnabow closed at 3 p.m. today.

To find an open shelter near you, text the word SHELTER and your ZIP code to 43362. And for Spanish speakers, text REFUGIO and your ZIP code to 43362.

Public health

In addition to being aware of threats associated with a tropical storm, North Carolina Division of Public Health officials have issued heat-health alerts for New Hanover and Pender counties for Friday through Monday. The expected maximum heat index for Saturday is around 106 degrees for both counties. Maximum heat index is what the temperature feels like to the human body when relative humidity is combined with air temperature, according to weather.gov.

“Heat of this magnitude can be dangerous to your health, particularly for people who are more exposed to extreme heat or more sensitive to extreme heat,” officials said, including those without access to air conditioning, living with disabilities or underlying health conditions, people who work or exercise outdoors or live alone, older adults and pregnant women.

Brunswick County Public Utilities has reported two discharges of wastewater on Wednesday, the ramification for which were exacerbated by the current weather conditions.

Officials announced Wednesday that a believed 300 to 500 gallons of partially treated wastewater were released to an onsite stormwater pond at the West Brunswick Regional Water Reclamation Facility in Supply. Due to recent rain and storm events, the stormwater pond has been discharging through the emergency overflow, which drains to a tributary of the Lockwood Folly River. Sampling and remediation of the affected site are ongoing.

The county reported Thursday that around 3,000 gallons of untreated wastewater were released to a tributary of the Calabash River at the Sea Trail Wastewater Treatment Facility Wednesday evening.

“This release occurred due to exponential rains and corresponding influent flows associated with Tropical Storm Debby which overwhelmed the treatment facility’s influent pump station’s storage capacity,” they said.

Safety measures

FEMA officials encourage residents to take the following actions for their safety:

Turn around! Don’t Drown! and be aware of flood risks. Do not walk, swim or drive through flood water as it may be contaminated and contain dangerous debris, and underground or downed power lines can electrically charge the water. Just six inches of moving water can knock a person down and 1 foot of moving water can sweep a vehicle away. Stay off bridges over fast-moving water and never drive around barricades. Local responders use them to safely direct traffic out of flooded areas.

Be ready to evacuate. Excessive rainfall may cause waters to rise rapidly, so you may need to evacuate with little notice. Residents and visitors should pay attention to local officials and heed any guidance, warnings or instructions as risk of flooding continues over the coming days.

Use generators safely. Always use them outdoors and at least 20 feet from windows, doors and attached garages. Make sure to keep the generator dry and protected from rain or flooding. 

Flooding can affect power systems, as utility companies may shut down portion of the electrical grid. If the power goes out, use only flashlights or battery-powered lanterns for emergency lighting. Never use candles during a blackout or power outage due to extreme risk of fire.

Stay away from power and communications lines. Communication lines carry vital messages including 911 and emergency services and provide access to the internet. Call your utility providers directly to report down or cut lines and stay clear of the area.

Stay off the roads. This will help first responders and utility companies get help to those who need it most. If you evacuated, do not return home until local officials say it is safe to do so.

Document any property damage. If you’re able to safely do so, take photos and contact your insurance company right away for assistance and next steps.

Use caution when cleaning up. Wear protective clothing, including a long-sleeved shirt, long pants, work gloves and sturdy thick-soled shoes. Do not try to remove heavy debris by yourself. Use an appropriate mask if cleaning mold or other debris. People with asthma and other lung conditions and/or immune suppression should not enter buildings with indoor water leaks or mold growth that can be seen or smelled. Children should not take part in disaster cleanup work.

Dare County has received more than $5 million to elevate 31 flood-prone homes through the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

The Dare County Grants and Waterways office announced Monday that the county has received the FEMA hazard mitigation assistance grant awarded in December 2023 because of the extensive damage caused by Hurricane Dorian, which was declared a federal disaster in 2019. 

The 31 homes that will be elevated this year were selected from applications submitted in 2019 by homeowners in Kitty Hawk, Manteo, Wanchese, Stumpy Point, Manns Harbor, Avon, Buxton, Frisco and Hatteras. 

Elevations will begin once the project has been bid out by the state and a contractor has been selected. The project is expected to begin in late this year and take a year to complete. The elevation of each home is expected to take between 60 and 90 days to complete.

FEMA’s Hazard Mitigation Grant Program provides funding to local and state governments so they can develop hazard mitigation plans and rebuild in a manner that reduces future disaster losses within their communities. This funding, which only becomes available after a presidentially declared disaster occurs, allows structures to be elevated above the known flood level, preventing or reducing the risk of future flood losses.  

Over the past 25 years, Dare County has completed the elevation of nearly 100 homes with FEMA assistance, including 27 residences that were elevated in 2023 with funding from a hazard mitigation assistance grant of $6 million awarded in August 2021 as a result of damage caused by Hurricane Florence, declared a federal disaster in 2018.   

“In addition to reducing flood insurance claims and keeping insurance rates down, elevating homes located in areas prone to flooding also enhances the resilience of these residences, protecting the homeowners and their belongings from potential future losses,” officials said.  

Although the homes that will be elevated in 2024 using this particular FEMA hazard mitigation assistance grant have already been selected from applications that were submitted following Hurricane Dorian in 2019, homeowners whose properties are located in flood-prone areas are encouraged to watch for grant opportunities that may become available following any future federally declared disasters.

For more information, please contact Dare County Grants and Waterways Administrator Barton Grover at 252-475-5628 or Barton.Grover@DareNC.gov.

Watch a short video released in May 2023 about elevating homes in Dare County through FEMA’s hazard mitigation assistance grant funding.

NORTH TOPSAIL BEACH – A group of property owners here hoping to salvage a proposed 50-year federal beachfront project North Topsail officials turned down last year because of funding issues wants out of the town’s limits.

But when it boils down to details of how and what it would take for those with properties in the southern section of the town to de-annex from North Topsail Beach and become part of neighboring Surf City, the likelihood of it actually happening doesn’t appear favorable to those pushing to get out.

Emotions ran high at a Friday, March 11, special meeting called by the North Topsail Beach Board of Aldermen on behalf of Rep. Phil Shepard, R-Onslow, who had asked to hold a meeting about the queries he’d been getting from the property owners.

Shepard told the standing-room-only crowd packed in the board’s chambers Friday that he was not taking a side but rather was there to explain the legal process of de-annexation and annexation.

Property owner George Fieser was first up at the podium to explain why he supports the annexation of the “Phase 5” area, a reference to the breakdown of North Topsail Beach’s beachfront for nourishment and dune projects.

Phase 5 is the southernmost 4½ miles of town and is not included in Coastal Barrier Resources System, or CBRS, a federal designation that prohibits government funding such as Federal Emergency Management Agency money for properties within the system.

“We’re just a different community in that phase than other parts of the town,” Fieser said. “We have the opportunity for the next 50 years and we didn’t take that. It’s not just me, but it’s the state of North Carolina that benefits.”

North Topsail’s elected officials last year backed away from a proposed joint project with Surf City and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers that would secure routine nourishment of phase 5’s beachfront for 50 years.

After months of meetings, the town board concluded that, while they supported the project, the town simply could not fund its more than $33 million of the project’s cost.

The town still has another $14 million or so to pay off the U.S. Department of Agriculture loan it took out to cover the cost of a beach project in phase 5. The N.C. Local Government Commission would not permit the town to go into further debt.

Aldermen could not legally raise property taxes by the amount it would take to cover the joint project, the projected cost of which had grown exponentially from when it was first placed on the table by the Corps years ago.

North Topsail Beach aldermen last year discussed asking the North Carolina General Assembly to vote to approve the town raising the occupancy tax to generate additional revenue, a proposition that didn’t go far because of the powerful tourism lobby.

“There was not one board member that was against the project,” North Topsail Mayor Joann McDermon said. “It was, when it got down to the money and how it would affect all of the taxpayers town-wide,” not something the town could afford.

According to town officials, pro-annexation supporters are primarily property owners within one particular neighborhood, Village of Stump Sound, an area that consists largely of vacation rental homes along the beach and sound.

Shepard and a representative for North Carolina House Speaker Tim Moore explained Friday that 100% of registered voters — meaning those who claim their homes in North Topsail Beach as their primary residence — in Phase 5 would have to vote in favor of annexation into Surf City.

“That’s an onerous thing to get 100 percent of the people,” to vote in favor of annexation, said Village of Stump Sound property owner Reed Abernathy.

And, Surf City’s town board would have to vote to approve annexing the nearly 5-mile stretch of Topsail Island.

If Surf City annexed that town would incur the USDA loan, extending town services to the additional properties, and have to come up with the more than $33 million portion of the joint project.

Surf City Mayor Doug Medlin said in a telephone interview Monday that town officials there would have to examine all potential costs associated with annexing Phase 5, if the property owners can get the land de-annexed.

“We’ll be glad to talk to them if they do de-annex,” he said. “We can’t say anything as far as what we can do until they’re de-annexed.”

That includes going to the Corps to find out whether Phase 5 could be put back into the plans.

The General Assembly is the only governing body that may approve de-annexation.

“That vote can go either way in the General Assembly,” Shepard said. “If you’re de-annexed and North Topsail cuts the water and sewer and everything off, there’s a lot to look at.”

Property owner Burgess Allison expressed his support for annexation and suggested the state has a “huge” interest in seeing to it that the project moves forward.

“The Outer Banks has seen this success first hand,” he said. “Here on Topsail Island, sadly, we are really stuck with old town boundary lines that stand in the way of moving this progress forward. Frankly, I think that the state legislature, especially if the law is you have to get 100 percent of every single voter to sign up for something, the state legislature can see the benefit of the Corps’ project.”

Several people in the audience applauded his comments.

Robert Box said that though he’s not a full-time resident, he as a property owner wants to see the project go forward in North Topsail Beach.

“I’m not thrilled that I’m hearing that our interests don’t count even through we’ve paid 100 percent of our property taxes,” he said. “This is game changing. This will preserve the legacy of the beaches for us. This is home. We will never sell. If we miss this window, it will not come again.”

Some suggested whether the best course of action is to ask Pender County, not Surf City, to annex.

The occupancy tax rate in North Topsail Beach is 6% and the revenues generated are split equally between the town and Onslow County.

The northernmost stretch of Surf City is in Onslow County.

But in Pender County, Surf City collects the full 6%. The town allocates revenues generated through its portion of the 3% for tourism-related activities and the money collected from the county tax goes toward beach nourishment projects, according to the town’s website.

Sandy Cofier, a full-time resident who lives in the Ocean City area of Phase 5 in North Topsail Beach, said she supports the joint federal project, but does not want to be de-annexed.

She urged the audience to think about how long the area might go without town services if Phase 5 were to be de-annexed.

“How long does it take to be annexed?” she asked. “That’s a question everybody should ask. We need to do something to fix the beaches.”

“We are working on that,” McDermon replied.

Phase 5 is currently getting sand injections through a project that entails trucking sand to the island. About 1,000 feet of beachfront will be renourished by April 30, when sand placement activities must halt for sea turtle nesting season.

Sand hauls are to resume for the remainder of Phase 5 in November. The FEMA project includes placing 636,000 cubic yards of sand along more than 12,000 feet of the shoreline.

North Carolina native Erik Hooks took his oath Monday to become Federal Emergency Management Agency’s new deputy administrator.

FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell swore in Hooks, who most recently served as North Carolina’s secretary of Public Safety and Homeland Security adviser.

President Joseph R. Biden Jr. appointed Hooks for the deputy administrator position earlier this year and was confirmed by the Senate last week.

“I am so excited for Erik to be joining our team,” Criswell said in a statement. “He has such an amazing background and will be a tremendous asset in helping us take this agency where we want to go, with a people-first approach.”

Gov. Roy Cooper in 2017 appointed Hooks for the secretary of Public Safety and Homeland Security adviser, leading the state’s disaster mitigation, response and recovery efforts. He managed nearly 27,000 sworn and civilian public safety professionals, as well as about 12,000 National Guard soldiers and airmen, according to FEMA.

After being sworn into office, Hooks told a story about some advice his brother Pete gave him during a sermon.

“Help me to walk faithfully in my noble purpose,” said Hooks. “Helping people before, during and after disasters — there is no more noble purpose. I thank Administrator Criswell for this opportunity and I’m ready to roll up my sleeves and get to work.”

Hooks has been in public service in North Carolina for three decades. He served more than 27 years with the State Bureau of Investigation, starting as a special agent. He is a member of the International Association of Chiefs of Police and served on the executive committee of the National Governors Homeland Security Advisors Council.

Dare County Emergency Management Director Drew Pearson has been selected to serve on Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Regional Advisory Council.

Gracia Szczech, the regional administrator for FEMA Region 4, which includes North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida, Kentucky, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi and Tennessee, as well as six federally recognized tribal nations, has selected Pearson to serve in the role, the county announced Wednesday.

The Regional Advisory Council advises the regional administrator on emergency management issues, such as identifying impediments to effective preparedness, response, recovery and mitigation efforts by sharing weaknesses while offering advice on how to implement improvements, the county said. Advisory Council members serve two-year terms.

“I am honored to have been selected to serve the region—and, most importantly, Dare County—as a member of the Regional Advisory Committee,” Pearson in a statement. “I look forward to joining a dedicated group of seasoned professionals as we provide advice to help enhance FEMA service delivery before, during and after a disaster, leading to a more resilient region and community here in Dare County.”

The council is made up of 12 members that have experience in emergency management, public health, emergency medical services, healthcare, law enforcement, fire, floodplain management and volunteer organizations active in disasters, according to the county.

The 2021 Atlantic Hurricane Season, which ended Tuesday, produced nearly two-dozen named storms, and ranks as the third most active year on record for named storms.

This year also marks the sixth consecutive above-normal Atlantic hurricane season and was the first time on record that two consecutive hurricane seasons exhausted the list of 21 storm names, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration officials said Wednesday.

Of the 21 named storms, which have winds of 39 mph or greater, there were seven hurricanes with winds of 74 mph or greater, four of which were major hurricanes with winds of 111 mph or greater.

This above-average hurricane season was accurately predicted by NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center, a division of the National Weather Service, in their May and August outlooks.

“NOAA provided the science and services necessary to protect life and property before, during and after storms all season long,” said NOAA Administrator, Rick Spinrad in a statement. “From essential observations to advanced warnings to critical response actions, NOAA supports communities so they are ready, responsive and resilient to the impact of tropical cyclones each and every hurricane season.”

Scientists are tying the heightened hurricane activity in recent years to the warm phase of the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation that began in 1995 and favors more, stronger and longer-lasting storms, NOAA officials said. The Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation is an ongoing series of long-duration changes in the sea surface temperature of the North Atlantic Ocean, with cool and warm phases that may last for 20-40 years at a time. These changes are natural and have been occurring for at least the last 1,000 years.

Additionally, scientists are linking the increase in activity to climate change. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s Sixth Assessment Report released in August projects with high confidence that the global proportion of tropical cyclones that reach very intense — category 4-5 — levels, along with their peak winds and rainfall rates, are expected to increase with climate warming at the global scale, NOAA said.

Federal Emergency Management Agency officials said Wednesday that just because hurricane season is officially over, severe impacts from climate change are lasting longer and stretching beyond traditional seasons, meaning community preparedness efforts must be a year-round endeavor.

The 2020 FEMA National Household Survey found that only 48% of American households have disaster preparedness plans, indicating that many feel immune to disasters, FEMA officials said.

“This past year, I traveled around the country and observed flooded streets and extensive debris in places like LaFourche, Terrebonne and St. Charles parishes, listened to heartbreaking stories of families who lost everything to wildfires and saw the remnants of homes torn apart by tornadoes that touched down in New Jersey as Hurricane Ida approached,” said FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell in a statement. “I was pained to see the devastation, and it strengthened my resolve that emergency preparedness cannot only be seasonal and must be a year-round activity.”

To be prepared year-round, FEMA officials urge visiting Ready.gov and the following recommendations:

• Make a plan for the types of disasters that could affect your area and know how you’ll contact one another and reconnect if separated. Establish a family meeting place that’s familiar and easy to find.
• Know your evacuation route. Get accustomed to alternate routes and other means of transportation out of your area.
• Follow wireless emergency alerts. These are short emergency messages from alerting authorities delivered to your mobile device.

Federal Emergency Management Agency officials are calling for feedback on the National Flood Insurance Program.

The National Flood Insurance Program provides flood insurance to property owners, renters and businesses as well as works with communities required to adopt and enforce floodplain management regulations that help mitigate flooding effects, according to FEMA.

FEMA is hosting two, 90-minute virtual meetings when the public can comment. The first meeting is 2:30-4 p.m. Thursday. Participants must register in advance on the webpage. The second meeting is from 3:30-5 p.m. Nov. 15. Register in advance online to attend or speak.

The meetings will look at the program’s floodplain management standards for land management and use and an assess the program’s impact on threatened and endangered species and their habitats, FEMA officials said. Floodplain management is a community-based effort to prevent or reduce the risk of flooding.

Published Oct. 12 in the Federal Register, the notice says FEMA officials want to hear from the public what updates are needed for the program’s minimum floodplain management standards to help communities become safer, stronger and more resilient, according to the agency. The agency also seeks input on minimum floodplain management standards to promote conservation of threatened and endangered species and their habitats, as consistent with the Endangered Species Act.

In addition to providing verbal comments at the meetings, written comments can be submitted through the Federal eRulemaking Portal using Docket ID: FEMA-2021-2024. Click on the “Comment” button and complete the form. The comment period closes Dec. 13. 

FEMA officials said that the type of feedback that is most useful to the agency:

• Identifies opportunities for the agency to improve the minimum floodplain management standards for land management and use.
• Identifies specific program components that promote conservation of threatened and endangered species and their habitats.
• Refers to specific barriers to community participation.
• Aligns the program with the improved understanding of flood risk and flood risk reduction approaches.
• Identifies better incentives for communities and policyholders, particularly for Endangered Species Act-listed species and critical habitats.
• Offers actionable data.
• Specifies viable alternatives to existing approaches that meet statutory obligations.

Dare County is set to receive more than $4.2 million to elevate 31 homes that have a history of flooding during hurricanes and other storms.

The funding announced Thursday by North Carolina Emergency Management and the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Hazard Mitigation Grant Program is available because of the federal disaster declaration after Hurricane Florence in 2018. 

North Carolina Emergency Management works with FEMA to help state, local, tribal and territorial governments to prepare for impacts or recover from damage caused by natural disasters.

The Dare County homes to be elevated using the $4.2 million are in Avon, Buxton, Frisco, Hatteras, Kill Devil Hills, Kitty Hawk, Manns Harbor, Manteo, Nags Head, Rodanthe, Stumpy Point and Wanchese. All are within the special flood hazard area. Elevating the homes to the base flood elevation plus local freeboard requirements will interrupt the costly repetitive cycle of flood damage and repairs, according to information from the state.

“Dare County is excited to receive funding to elevate 31 homes because mitigating flood hazards is a priority for us,” said Bob Woodard, chairman of the Dare County Board of Commissioners, in a statement. “Previously, Dare County has elevated almost 100 homes with FEMA assistance and elevating additional homes will decrease the flood risks for property owners. We look forward to the announcement regarding the additional applications that are under consideration for funding.”

FEMA reimburses 75% of eligible project costs and 25% is covered by the state. FEMA’s cost share for the Dare County project is about $3.2 million with the state covering about $1.07 million.

“The State appreciates continued partnership in assisting all homeowners across the State, especially those impacted so hard by Hurricane Florence. Supporting the elevation of these homes allows us to assist both the homeowners and the county simultaneously,” State Hazard Mitigation Officer Steve McGugan said in a statement. “The next step is for the state and local governments to procure a contractor, which may take several months. Once a contractor is selected, the property owners will be advised of the project timeline.”

So far this year, the state and FEMA have approved millions through the grant program that assists homeowners move out of dangerous flood zones, have their homes elevated or have their homes torn down and rebuilt to code with an elevated foundation.

In addition to the funding for Dare County, a hazard mitigation project grant of $691,610 was awarded to Craven County Aug. 13 to elevate four residential structures in Havelock and New Bern.

In June, $976,710 was approved to remove five residences in Harnett and Pender counties that flooded after Tropical Storm Michael in 2018 and more than $1.6 million for Beaufort County acquire, demolish and remove 19 homes flooded after Hurricane Florence. More than $6.5 million was approved to purchase 31 homes in Pender County in May to be demolished. After the structure is removed from a property, it’s turned into open space in order to conserve natural floodplain functions.

Hazard mitigation includes long-term solutions that help reduce or eliminate rebuilding costs from future disasters. This mitigation planning breaks the cycle of disaster damage, reconstruction and repeated damage, according to the state. Also, according to a 2019 report from National Institute of Building Sciences found that federal grants save $6 per $1 cost. “Public-sector investment in mitigation since 1995 by FEMA, EDA, and HUD cost the country $27 billion but will ultimately save $160 billion, meaning $6 saved per $1 invested.”

Brian R. Haines, public information officer for the state Department of Public Safety, under the Division of Emergency Management, told Coastal Review that hazard mitigation assistance is broken down into disaster grants and nondisaster grants.

“After federally declared disasters, FEMA provides funding through a disaster grant,” he said. “Using the funds set aside into the disaster grant, North Carolina Emergency Management and FEMA work with communities to nominate, review and award projects focused at reducing or eliminating future impacts to people and property from natural hazards.” 

Nondisaster grants are recurring annual competitive grants. Haines said that North Carolina Emergency Management, or NCEM, works with local governments to identify projects that reduce risks and vulnerabilities associated with natural disasters.

Like with disaster grants, NCEM and local governments work together to nominate these projects to compete at the FEMA national level for funding.

Examples of hazard mitigation projects include buying homes in the special flood hazard area, or SFHA, or 100-year floodplain, and removing them or elevating those homes in the SFHA so that the first floor is a minimum of 2 feet above the 100-year flood level. Properties are determined to be in the special flood hazard area based on both historical data as well as modeling of floodwaters, considering changing drainage patterns and upstream growth. 

Through the state’s efforts over the last 30 years, more than 4,000 homes have been acquired and turned into green space.

“The ownership of all properties acquired under the hazard mitigation program remains with the local counties or municipality that purchased the home,” he said.

The properties, in accordance with federal law, purchased under the program must remain as green space to ensure the natural flow of water in the floodplain and prevent any future development that would again have to be covered by the National Flood Insurance Program.

Other examples of hazard mitigation projects include providing wind retrofits to buildings to protect against wind damage, demolishing and reconstructing badly damage homes at the proper elevated level, and providing stormwater gauges and early warning systems to allow people to evacuate before becoming trapped by floodwaters.

“In North Carolina, you can visit flood.nc.gov, North Carolina’s Flood Information Center, to learn what your flood risk is and determine if you live within the SFHA or floodway. Additionally, the state’s Flood Inundation Mapping and Alert Network (FIMAN) allows the public to see real-time data on stream elevation, rainfall and weather parameters from over 550 gauges across North Carolina,” he said.

Haines emphasized that it’s important for people to understand that nearly everyone has some risk of flooding and the best way to recover is to have flood insurance, as homeowners’ insurance does not cover flood losses.

“Flood insurance policies are available for residential buildings and commercial buildings as long as the community participates in the National Flood Insurance Program. There is also separate contents coverage, so renters can get flood insurance too,” he said.

“Because of North Carolina’s mitigation planning effort, the state is considered an Enhanced State by FEMA and qualifies for 5% greater federal funding per declared disaster than a nonenhanced state,” he said. “Currently there are only 14 enhanced states in the US.”

The 14 states that have earned FEMA approval for their enhanced state mitigation plan are now eligible to receive more funds under the Hazard Mitigation Grant Program following a disaster declaration. To receive approval of an enhanced plan, a state must show that it has developed a comprehensive mitigation program and is capable of managing increased funding for its mitigation goals, according to FEMA.

The hazard mitigation program is a product of the 1988 Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act, commonly known as the Stafford Act, and later refined by the Disaster Mitigation Act of 2000.

In addition to the Hazard Mitigation Grant program, Emergency Management oversees the Flood Mitigation Assistance program, Pre-Disaster Mitigation program, Repetitive Flood Claims program and Severe Repetitive Loss pilot program.

Updated to include statewide awards

The Dare County Board of Commissioners approved during its regular meeting last week a $1 million grant from the state to help assuage the financial strain caused by last year’s Hurricane Dorian.

Like many counties and local and tribal governments, Dare County has been facing budget impacts caused by hurricane damage and applied for the  state-funded grant through the North Carolina Office of Recovery and Resiliency, or NCORR, program, State Grants for Financially Distressed Local and Tribal Governments.

Governments can apply for grants of up to $1 million as short-term assistance to pay for everyday operating expenses or provide additional support for disaster recovery. Information on the grant application process is on NCORR’s ReBuild.NC.gov website.

“Our communities are committed to rebuilding smarter and stronger and these funds will help foster new partnerships and make North Carolina more resilient against future storms,” said Gov. Roy Cooper in a release.

Communities are also able to apply for zero-interest loans through NCORR, though the 2020 loan application period has closed. Another application period will be announced in the coming months for the revolving loans of up to $2 million. These loans are to help with disaster-related expenses while local governments wait for reimbursement from federal disaster response, recovery and resiliency programs such as those from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. If approved, the loan principal must be repaid upon receiving federal reimbursements.

Clawson said that he identified what items the county needed that met the criteria outlined in the application.

“One of them was a vehicle for emergency management, and another one was if you had Hurricane Dorian costs that had not been reimbursed by FEMA or the state, and we have both of those. And then the rest, the grant application allowed you to use non-hurricane related — just straight up operating expenditures — you can use debt service, you can do payroll, I picked payroll,” he said.

The county, which applied for the grant Sept. 9, will use $55,000 for an emergency management vehicle that has been requested but not included in the FY2021 budget, $166,456 for debris costs from Hurricane Dorian that was ineligible for reimbursement, per FEMA, and $778,544 for economic relief to general fund, to be used for general payroll obligations, according to the county.

County commissioners approved a budget amendment for the grant and the memorandum of agreement during the meeting.

More than 40 local and tribal governments have been awarded about $50 million in grants and loans to help with operating costs and recovery expenses since the NCORR program was launched last year.

“Hurricanes damage not only individual homes, but also buildings and infrastructure that are critical for community stability and welfare,” said NCORR Chief Operating Officer Laura Hogshead in a statement. “Our office is committed to building local government partnerships that will support long-term disaster recovery throughout the state.”

Carteret County also received $1 million in grant money earlier this month from NCORR because of the impact recent major storms had on the budget.

“As a result of the hurricanes’ negative economic impact on the County’s operating budget, the award is a pivotal resource for our County. FEMA reimburses local government for direct cost incurred from disasters. It does not reimburse local governments for lost revenues, and these revenues pay operating expenses and debt service obligations.” said Dee Meshaw, Carteret County assistant manager, in a statement from the county. “By alleviating the need to use general fund money to pay for these debts, it will allow the County to be more resilient against future storms and continue to financially support future projects and improvements for our community.”

Pollocksville is using the $500,000 grant awarded in 2019 funds to reduce debt service, retain the services of a full-time employee to help with disaster mitigation and resiliency, and to cover additional accounting expenses and financial services, according to NCORR.

“The grant has been a financial lifesaver for our town,” said Mayor James V. Bender Jr.

In late 2018, Cooper established NCORR in the Department of Public Safety after the state experienced two devastating hurricanes in as many years.

The North Carolina General Assembly established the state recovery grants for county governments, incorporated municipalities and tribal governments to provide assistance under the Hurricane Florence and Hurricane Dorian Presidential Disaster declarations, according to the state.

NCORR announced in January that more funding was available through the grant and loan program established in 2019.

Cooper signed legislation Nov. 18, 2019, directing $10 million for NCORR to disperse as zero-interest loans that governments can use for recovery-related expenses while waiting for reimbursement from various federal programs. Additionally, $5 million was set aside for local government grants to help communities impacted by Hurricane Dorian. Those funds supplement $9 million in grant and loan funds for local governments that Cooper signed into law on September 2019.

The agency during the first round of funding in 2019 awarded more than $22.4 million in grants and loans to 22 local governments struggling financially because of costs related to Hurricane Florence.

The grants can be used to cover operating budget expenses not related to a disaster, such as payroll and payments to vendors for goods and services not related to disaster response and recovery, where nonpayment would result in a negative financial outcome. The grants can also be used for disaster response and recovery expenses denied for federal reimbursement, disaster-related repairs to facilities and infrastructure denied for federal reimbursement and debt service payments.

The following are the NCORR grants and loans to date for Coastal Area Management Act, or CAMA, counties and towns and reason for funding:

Grants 2019

• Cape Carteret: $500,000 for administrative expenditures such as payroll and debt service payments due to disaster recovery.
• River Bend: $300,000 for inspection specialist and a public works technician, vehicle used for the inspections and enforcement of building ordinances.
• Atlantic Beach: $500,000 for debt service payments, part-time building inspector.
• Emerald Isle: $370,000 for debt service payments.
• Navassa: $375,000 for stabilization of water and sewer fund.
• North Topsail Beach: $250,000 for debt service payment to USDA.

Loans 2019

• River Bend: $1 million for FEMA projects for debris removal, repairs to building, emergency response.
• Beaufort: $1 million for FEMA projects for debris removal, emergency response, cemetery clean up, additional payroll.
• Boiling Spring Lakes: $2 million for FEMA infrastructure projects.
• Jones County $2 million for FEMA Projects for debris removal, emergency response, utilities repair, inmate housing.
• Pamlico County: $2 million for FEMA projects for debris removal.
• Emerald Isle: $2 million for FEMA projects for debris removal.

Hurricane Florence Grants

• Belhaven: $97,500 for part-time building inspector.
• Oriental: $86,593 for Public Works position for three years, vehicle for disaster recovery support.
• Vandemere: $80,167 for bobcat excavator.
• Navassa: $500,000 for payroll obligation, debt services obligations, vendor payments.
• New Bern: $328,500 for resiliency consultant, truck.
• Morehead City Fire-EMS: $174,000 for equipment for water search rescue team.
• River Bend: $363,000 for debt services, payroll obligations.

Hurricane Dorian Grants 2020

• Hyde County: $500,000 for administrative functions to assist with disaster recovery, affordable housing study and $2,214,000 for budget shortfalls, individual assistance costs, housing recovering contractors.
• Dare County: $1 million for disaster expenses denied by FEMA, general payroll obligations, emergency operations vehicle.
• Carteret County $1 million for debt service obligations.

Loans 2020

• Topsail Beach: $2 million for FEMA beach nourishment fund project.
• Hyde County: $2 million for FEMA debris removal from Hurricane Dorian.
• Pollocksville: $1.66 million for FEMA project for elevation of main sewer pumping station and also a project to relocate town hall/train station.

The following are the loans and grants awarded statewide as part of the program:

Grants 2019

• Fair Bluff: $500,000 for administrative positions to assist with disaster recovery for three years.
• Pollocksville: $500,000 for debt service payments, engineering support .
• Robbins: $500,000 for debt service payments, computer equipment, equipment for waste water treatment plant.
• Boardman: $200,000 for administrative expenses such as payroll, utilities, construction expenses for town hall.
• Jones County: $1 million for debt service payments, emergency management position to assist with disaster recovery.
• Maysville: $450,000 for debt service payments, general payroll , radio read meters.
• Lumberton: $500,000 for debt service payment for water and sewer fund.
• Bladenboro: $500,000 for administrative expenses such as payroll and debt service payments.
• Trenton: $405,000 for sewer construction, repairs to city buildings.
• Elizabethtown: $500,000 for debt service payments, code enforcement officer, economic development manager, consultant.
• Chadbourn: $375,000 for general payroll obligations, water sewer repairs, assistant town manager, backhoe.
• Tabor City: $25,000 for position to Support Disaster Recovery Coordination.

Loans 2019

• Fair Bluff: $700,000 Debt Services and FEMA HMGP obligations for the town.
• Boardman: $130,000 FEMA HMGP Project obligations.
• Jones County: $2 million for FEMA projects for debris removal, emergency response, utilities repair, inmate housing expenses.
• Lumberton: $2 million for FEMA projects for debris removal.
• Robbins: 1,600,000 for various FEMA projects to include wastewater treatment repair, emergency response, and pump station repair.

Grants Florence 2020

• Marion: $245,773 for funds for administrative functions to assist with disaster recovery, affordable housing study.
• Tabor City: $ 475,000 for position to support disaster recovery coordination.
• Cerro Gordo: $358,085 for administrative expenses such as payroll, bonds, utilities water and sewer fund expenses.
• Jones County: $1 million for repairs to the water pump station that was denied by FEMA.
• Town of Fair Bluff: $500,000 for drainage equipment.
• Hoke County: $235,215 for equipment for water search rescue team.
• Rose Hill: $188,000.00 for debt services, payroll obligations.
• Wallace: $500,000 for debris removal, debris management consultant, and community development officer.
• Wilson County: $406,000 for debt services.
• Red Springs: $500,000 for consulting services, debt service obligations, payroll obligation.
• Pembroke: $280,050 for disaster recovery coordinator.
• Clarkton $96,000 for excavator.
• Maysville: $500,000 for payroll obligation, debt services obligation.
• White Lake: $155,000 for position to support disaster recovery coordination.

Loans 2020

• Princeville: $2 million for various FEMA projects to include town hall repairs, senior center construction and repair costs.
• Lumbee Tribe of NC: $2 million for construction and engineering costs for FEMA projects.
• Marion: $450,120 for FEMA project for Lincoln Avenue bridge reconstruction.
• Elizabethtown: $2 Million For FEMA Project for repair of local cemetery.
• Red Springs: $1,024,608 for FEMA projects for debris removal, emergency protective measure, repairs to buildings.
• Jones County: $2 million for FEMA project for buyout.