INSTITUTE INDEX: FEMA chaos and North Carolina's Helene recovery
A sign near a closed mountain road in Watauga County, North Carolina after Hurricane Helene. The storm displaced more than 200,000 people and caused nearly $60 billion in damages in North Carolina alone. (Photo: Chris Kromm)
Date on which Hurricane Helene made landfall: September 26, 2024
Number of people killed as a result of the storm: 250
Date on which Donald Trump said in western North Carolina, "When I'm president, I will stand with you until the communities are fully rebuilt. Every single inch of every property will be fully rebuilt greater and more beautiful than it was before": October 21, 2024
Estimated amount of economic damages caused by Helene in North Carolina: $59.6 billion
Share of hurricane economic damage covered by the federal government after Hurricane Sandy in 2012: 78%
Share of damage covered after Hurricane Katrina in 2005: 73%
As of January 2026, share of Helene’s North Carolina damage covered by the federal government: 12%
Amount the state of North Carolina has spent on Helene recovery, in part to cover gaps in federal support: $3.1 billion
Date on which Secretary Kristi Noem of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which oversees FEMA, issued a directive requiring her personal approval for payment of any grant or contract of $100,000 or more: June 11, 2025
Number of grants, contracts, or disaster assistance awards that were delayed in the first three months after this directive was enacted due to approval holdups: 1,034
Value of a FEMA award Noem expedited in September 2025 for repair of a pier in Naples, Florida, two weeks after a major campaign donor contacted DHS: $11 million
Number of requests made in North Carolina to FEMA’s Hazard Grant Application Program for buyouts or elevation of houses vulnerable to disasters: 679
As of March 2026, 18 months after the storm, number of those properties FEMA had approved for awards from the program: 101
Value of requests North Carolina officials have received for water and wastewater repairs in western North Carolina: $1.3 billion
Value of funds allocated for water and wastewater repairs in N.C. from federal and state sources to date: $644 million
Number of employees that FEMA has lost since Trump took office: up to 3,700
Share of the agency’s workforce that represents: 14%
Total number of FEMA positions the agency's leadership said they were seeking to cut, according to a December 2025 internal planning document: 11,500
Number of acting directors at FEMA since President Trump took office in January 2025: 3
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Chris Kromm
Chris Kromm is executive director of the Institute for Southern Studies and publisher of the Institute's online magazine, Facing South.