By GARY D. ROBERTSON Associated Press
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper approved more than $600 million worth of disaster relief funding Friday for western North Carolina counties affected by Hurricane Helene after legislators passed the recovery bill the day before.
The bill is the second legislative iteration of recovery funding for western North Carolina after the General Assembly passed an initial $273 million relief package earlier this month. It seeks to address what the governor’s office has said was $53 billion in damages and recovery needs in the region after Helene barreled through.
“Western North Carolina needs significant investments to recover fully from the worst storm our state has ever seen,” Cooper said in a statement Friday. “Legislators have taken a small step here and should follow it with a more comprehensive package to help families, businesses and communities build back stronger.”
Helene brought widespread devastation to western North Carolina, causing 1,400 landslides and damaging over 160 water and sewer systems, according to the state budget office. It also disrupted transportation networks across the region by damaging at least 6,000 miles (9,650 kilometers) of roads and more than 1,000 bridges and culverts, the budget office said.
Senate president Phil Berger (R) reacts to Gov Cooper’s proposed relief package for western NC
There have been 98 reported deaths in North Carolina from the storm, according to state officials.
Among the relief efforts funded in the latest recovery bill from the Republican-controlled legislature, the legislation includes $50 million for small business loans, $100 million of loans for local governments to use on water repairs and $5 million to fund mental health resources for public school students.
The monetary amount agreed upon on Thursday was much less than the $3.9 billion that Cooper had requested to aid businesses, agriculture and utility repairs. Republican legislative leaders said they would consider Cooper’s funding request in the next few weeks. The General Assembly is slated to return to work on Nov. 19.
“The assessment of what needs to be done is still in progress,” Senate leader Phil Berger told reporters Thursday. “What we’ve done is deploy an adequate amount of resources at this time to deal with some of the more immediate things that have some time sensitivity.”
Legislators also passed a separate bill Thursday into state law requiring at least one early in-person voting site for every 30,000 registered voters in 13 western North Carolina counties as soon as possible. Because the legislation is considered a local bill, it was not subject to Cooper’s pen for approval.