On Sept. 27, Western North Carolina marked one year since Hurricane Helene tore through our mountain communities. It didn’t just wash away roads and bridges — it washed away livelihoods.
A recent study found the average economic loss was $322,000 per business. For family-owned shops, farms and restaurants, which are the backbone of our economy, those losses are nearly impossible to overcome without help. And yet, a full year later, the help we were promised has not arrived.
The Governor’s Advisory Committee on Western North Carolina Recovery, Grow NC, reports that Helene has received only 9 percent of the federal recovery funding requested. That is the lowest in U.S. history. To compare: Hurricane Sandy received 78 percent of its funding request. Helene was estimated to require $60 billion to rebuild, yet Washington has delivered only a fraction of that. The message to rural mountain communities is clear: our recovery doesn’t matter as much.
But it doesn’t have to stay that way. Now that the anniversary of Helene has passed, Congress has the chance to pass the FEMA Act of 2025, a bipartisan bill that would finally fix the broken disaster response system. Approved by the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, the bill would make long-overdue changes to how recovery happens on the ground.
The reforms in the FEMA Act are designed to fix the very problems we’ve seen here in Western North Carolina. Instead of waiting months or years for reimbursement, communities would finally see recovery money up front, allowing rebuilding to begin right away. Local governments, who know our needs best, would have greater say in how dollars are spent, rather than being stuck waiting on distant federal decisions.
Families applying for help would face a simpler, clearer process, rather than a tangle of confusing paperwork that too often leaves people behind. Cleanup and emergency repairs would move faster, with timelines that require FEMA to act so our towns aren’t paralyzed by debris and damage. And the bill rewards communities that invest in flood control, stronger water systems and other protections — because the smarter we are about preparing now, the less costly and painful the next disaster will be.
These reforms are exactly what Western North Carolina needs. After Helene, businesses are still reeling from record losses. Approved FEMA projects remain tied up in bureaucratic delays. And just this summer, FEMA cancelled $200 million in Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities funds for North Carolina. This was money meant for water, sewer and flood protection projects that could have made us stronger before the next storm.
Taken together, the failures of the current system have left our region weaker, more vulnerable and less prepared. The FEMA Act offers a chance to finally change that.
This isn’t about charity — it’s about survival. It is about whether 96 percent of our local businesses, which are small businesses, will be given the tools to rebuild. It is about whether schools, farms and neighborhoods across Western North Carolina can withstand the next storm.
Even as we move past Helene’s anniversary, Congress must act. Passing the FEMA Act of 2025 is not only common sense, but a moral obligation to communities that have already waited far too long.
Lynne Russo is a Western North Carolina advocate and a candidate for North Carolina House District 117.