Trump Administration Assists North Carolina Residents Affected by Hurricane Helene

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced that the Trump administration is addressing the needs of North Carolina residents severely impacted by Hurricane Helene.

"President Trump came in and visited this community, and in less than 20 days secured over $54 million for families in need and registered 2,600 families that needed assistance and hadn't gotten that type of help to get signed up for the programs that we have," Noem stated on a social media platform.

She highlighted that in the past five days, there has been a significant decrease in the number of open cases by almost 80 percent.

Noem also mentioned, "President Trump is ensuring that communities aren't forgotten, and he launched the first major initiative to connect farmers with recovery assistance as well."

Hurricane Helene struck the U.S. at the end of September, with North Carolina experiencing its most severe damage on September 27.

During his visit to North Carolina, Trump criticized the response of FEMA under former President Joe Biden.

"At one point, half of the emergency calls to FEMA went unanswered. That's real bad. FEMA was not doing their job," Trump asserted, referencing a White House transcript of his remarks.

He added, "Biden did a bad job," noting that after Helene's rains ceased, Biden served as president for 116 days without significant recovery.

Trump emphasized the ongoing struggles, stating, "Some residents still don't have hot water, drinking water, or anything else. And many of them don't have quarters. They got a stipend for what they lost, and we're going to take care of it. This is totally unacceptable, and I'll be taking strong action to get North Carolina the support that you need to quickly recover and rebuild. We're working on it very hard."

According to KATC-TV, FEMA has provided assistance to 153,000 households since the storm ended.

Noem mentioned that the recovery efforts during the Trump administration are just beginning. "FEMA can often be slow and confusing and a lot of paperwork. I heard that over and over and over again today. And we're going to fix that," she said.

During her visit, Noem referenced Trump's executive order to review FEMA's structure and operations, stating, "You've heard him make comments that he might even want to end it and have it be a process where the federal government sends block grants or sends the dollars to the state or to the local communities, and they decide how it's spent."

Noem acknowledged mixed experiences with FEMA, saying, "There were some folks that got their checks promptly, had the assistance that they needed, and we appreciate that, but we also know that isn't true for everybody."

In a Sunday interview, Noem reiterated the need for more resources and financial assistance for disaster-stricken areas, saying, "We still need the resources and the funds and the finances to go to people that have these types of disasters, like Hurricane Helene and the fires in California."

She emphasized the importance of allowing local officials to make decisions on the deployment of resources for quicker assistance.

Noem concluded that reforms will be considered in consultation with legislators to ensure that FEMA improvements are "done correctly" while still providing necessary help for those affected by disasters.