CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Hurricane Helene left North Carolina with an estimated $60 billion in damage, but one year later—most of that money hasn’t reached communities.
So far, FEMA has disbursed about $1.3 billion. State leaders expect the total to eventually reach around $8 billion. Still — that’s just a sliver of what’s needed to cover the full loss.
Local government leaders say the reimbursement process is the biggest bottleneck as cities and counties pay upfront to fix roads, buildings, and utilities and then are forced to wait for months or even years to get reimbursed…