No FEMA help for area counties
Wednesday, September 28th, 2005
By Chris Fitzsimon
RALEIGH | Gov. Mike Easley asked Tuesday for federal government money to rebuild homes and businesses damaged by Hurricane Ophelia, but limited that request to the hardest-hit areas northeast of Wilmington.
In a letter to President Bush, Mr. Easley asked for a major disaster declaration – which would make available grant money and low-interest loans to storm victims if approved – in Carteret, Craven, Hyde, Jones, Onslow and Pamlico counties.
If approved, it would be the second such declaration for those counties in three years. Federal disaster relief dollars flowed to those counties following Hurricane Isabel in 2003. Households would receive grants up to $26,000 and access to low-interest loans to cover storm-related expenses not covered by insurance.
Residents of other counties affected by the hurricane – which include New Hanover, Pender, Brunswick and Columbus counties – were not included in the request and won’t be able to apply for recovery aid if the Federal Emergency Management Agency approves it.
“We are still getting some calls from people with damage asking for the FEMA phone number, and we have to tell them there is no number,” said Warren Lee, New Hanover emergency management director. But Ophelia in New Hanover County, he said, “was no huge event in terms of property damage.” (more…)
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