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After Helene, federal funds slow to arrive in NC as state presses for more aid [1]

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Date: 2025-08

The federal government has awarded the state just $3.8 billion for Tropical Storm Helene recovery, according to an official testifying before a North Carolina General Assembly subcommittee on disaster response.

The amount is 6% of the nearly $60 billion in estimated damage the state sustained from the September 2024 storm, Matt Calabria, the director of the Governor’s Recovery Office for Western North Carolina, told state lawmakers during the July 30 hearing. According to Calabria, the state has asked the federal government for funding to cover 48% of the damage.

“As you know, the federal government is the biggest potential source of funding for Helene recovery, but it’s also one of the slowest moving,” Calabria said. Of the nearly $4 billion awarded as of May, which includes $1.4 billion from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, not all has been disbursed, he added.

Businesses along the Swannanoa River were completely destroyed in the wake of Tropical Storm Helene. Sunday, November 17, 2024

With damage to more than 38,000 homes and critical infrastructure like major highways and roads, the state is expecting to receive another $7 billion in federal grant funding, most of which would come from a bipartisan spending bill Congress passed in December 2024, Calabria said. Passage of the $100 billion package, which was cosponsored by Rep. Chuck Edwards, who represents North Carolina’s 11th Congressional District, was expected to provide the state between $9 billion and $16 billion for Helene recovery, well short of the $25.5 billion a delegation of state and local elected officials requested in November.

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State lawmakers have approved more than $2 billion in disaster aid across four bills passed since the storm hit.

During the July 30 hearing, Calabria also noted that North Carolina Gov. Josh Stein had pressed federal lawmakers for an extra $11 billion, a request Stein sent to President Donald Trump and Congress in February, and one he recently acknowledged might go unfulfilled.

Gov. Josh Stein delivers remarks at the Asheville Regional Airport, July 14, 2025.

“I wish I had more confidence that the feds were going to deliver the resources that are needed,” Stein told the Citizen Times during a July 8 visit to Western North Carolina.

North Carolina Sens. Thom Tillis and Ted Budd did not respond to a July 30 request for comment from the Citizen Times. Edwards did not provide comment.

Luis Morales, 4, walks through his father’s auto shop, The Boyz Automotive, November 4, 2024. The shop was heavily damaged by flooding from the Swannanoa River during Tropical Storm Helene.

'Historic recovery effort'

During an October 2024 visit to Western North Carolina, Trump, then campaigning for his return to the White House, said that if he were elected president, "every single inch of every property will be fully rebuilt, greater and more beautiful than it was before."

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Still, the awarding of the majority of the $3.8 billion in federal funding to the state happened before Trump was sworn in, according to publicly available data.

When asked July 30 if Trump would pressure federal agencies and lawmakers to provide the state additional funding for Helene recovery, Abigail Jackson, a White House spokesperson said the president "has led a historic disaster recovery effort in North Carolina."

Jackson cited the removal of "more than 3,600 Olympic-sized swimming pools worth of debris from roadways, waterways and properties," as well as the six-month 100% cost share for debris removal, which she described as "one of the longest" in the history of the Federal Emergency Management Agency. She also cited the 90% federal cost share that followed, higher than the typical 75% the agency covers after a natural disaster.

Both measures were approved in 2024 by then-President Joe Biden.

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In May, the Trump administration denied, for a second time, the state's request to the extend the 100% cost share for an additional six months, even though cost shares were extended after other natural disasters, like Hurricanes Katrina and Ike.

"President Trump cares deeply about the people of Western North Carolina and their continued recovery," Jackson said.

Even if the state’s federal funding request of more than $28 billion is ultimately granted in full, it would still fall short of what other states received following major natural disasters.

After Katrina, which hit the Gulf Coast region of the U.S. in 2005, the federal government covered more than 70% of the storm's cost, according to data Calabria presented to lawmakers. The federal government did the same after Superstorm Sandy hit the Northeast in 2012, and after Hurricane Maria devastated Puerto Rico in 2017, during Trump’s first term in office.

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In North Carolina, fulfilling the amount of federal funding requested after Helene would put the state “roughly in the middle of the pack when it comes to federal support as measured as a percentage of overall damages," Calabria said.

More: How is a North Carolina town recovering after Helene? Gov. Stein announces a grant to help

More: Asheville Citizen Times staff recognized for journalism excellence in Helene coverage

Jacob Biba is the Helene recovery reporter at the Asheville Citizen Times, part of the USA TODAY Network. Email him at [email protected].

This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: Helene recovery: Only $3.8B in federal aid awarded so far

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[1] Url: https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/helene-federal-funds-slow-arrive-092929252.html

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