South Raleigh News

The North Carolina Council of State Republicans has provided updates on the ongoing recovery efforts following Hurricane Helene's impact in Western North Carolina.

State Treasurer Brad Briner highlighted the progress of a new cashflow loan program, stating, "Our staff has performed Herculean work in short order to build the architecture of the cashflow loan program from the ground up. We are eager to begin approving loans later this month to potentially more than 140 local governments that were shattered by Helene. They have shown irrepressible grit as they continue to pick up the pieces. These loans will give them a cash infusion sorely needed to accelerate the road to recovery."

Local governments affected by Hurricane Helene must submit damage assessments to the N.C. Department of Emergency Management by February 14. These assessments will determine loan amounts, which require approval from local governing boards before acceptance.

The cashflow loan program was established under the Disaster Recovery Act of 2024 and is administered by DST. The first loans may be issued as early as February 24.

State Auditor Dave Boliek announced a new online tool for tracking recovery efforts: "On Day 1, the State Auditor’s Office committed to bringing transparency and accountability to hurricane recovery, and I’m proud of the work our team has done to produce the Helene Recovery Dashboard," he said. "This is an easy-to-navigate tool that shows how many people are in hotels and how many people are displaced, and I look forward to building it out further as North Carolina continues to recover."

The dashboard provides county-level data on displaced households, FEMA shelter assistance usage, and other recovery metrics. It also includes information on State Temporary Housing Units and a Q&A section addressing common public inquiries about recovery efforts.

The OSA is collaborating with the Stein Administration for real-time data transfer to ensure regular updates on the dashboard.

Visit the dashboard here.