Just a couple of weeks after Hurricane Helene tore through the southern and eastern coasts of the United States, and days after Hurricane Milton came through to cause more destruction, residents of North Carolina are still struggling to recover. Earlier this week, as many were dealing with Hurricane Milton, the state legislators finalized a relief package of $273 million. The money was focused mostly on repairs that would be needed after Helene, which has shown itself to be all together more destructive. The aid would go to helping the hardest hit counties in order to give them the initial recovery boost needed, especially with election day nearing.
The legislation passed in a unanimous decision between the House and the Senate.
North Carolina was hit extremely hard by the hurricane. There have been around 238 confirmed deaths related to the storm and over half of them occurred in North Carolina. Some people are still without power, even two weeks after the storm. Many homes have been destroyed. It was overall extremely catastrophic. The relief package is much needed around the state and will help relieve some of the stressors tenfold.
One Senator, Senator Ralph Hise, who comes from Mitchell County, a county left with an irreparably damaged water system, said “We’ve never seen devastation like this before.” He also expressed gratitude for the package.
Advisors from the Governor’s Office have said that more funding will be coming soon as well.
On October 24th, the legislative officials will reconvene to discuss more ways to allocate funds for relief programs. Regularly, their next session is not scheduled for mid-November. However, they have already agreed to have an earlier session. They earlier session is likely due to the severity of the damage, as well as the fact that the election will be before their next scheduled meeting. North Carolina is a battleground state and essential in presidential elections. Voting by mail is allowed in the state, but even that is at risk of being impacted due to the devastation. They want to be sure they are ready for the important day as soon as possible.
