In poorer neighborhoods, no recovery yet from Matthew
Most roads that crumbled into raging floodwaters are rebuilt.
And aside from a few rotting stumps here and there, you'd never know how many massive trees were ripped out of the earth by their soggy roots on that Saturday in October, nearly 16 months ago.
Hurricane Matthew's scars have faded in many parts of
"We are very proud of what we have done thus far, how we have responded to the needs of our residents," said
But drive off the main corridors, into the largely poorer neighborhoods of
Graham is bedridden now. His daughter,
"He was just heartbroken," Turnipseed said. "Losing his home and his independence. Just very sad."
City officials initially wanted to reconstruct and elevate her father's home, she said, but they decided it wasn't worth the cost. Now, the state has agreed to buy it using federal funding through the Hazard Mitigation Grant Program. Turnipseed said her father was told the price will be the home's appraised value before the hurricane.
The mitigation program will be used to buy seven other homes on
The money to buy Graham's home should become available by May. By then, it will have been more than a year and a half since Hurricane Matthew dumped as much as 15 inches of rain on
The 28 homes getting hazard mitigation money is a small number, considering that the city mailed about 675 letters to homeowners in March saying they may become eligible. Reinstein said about 200 applied for assistance.
The mitigation program is aimed at preventing repeated flood damage to buildings that are insurable under the National Flood Insurance Program. As such, only homes in a designated 100-year floodplain qualify. The city and county got
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MATTHEW: Before and after
Left:
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----The floodplain stipulation apparently rules out any mitigation money for people on
After the hurricane, Bethea let volunteers begin the reconstruction process under the direction of the N.C. Conference United Methodist Church Disaster Relief Center.
Evans, whose organization has so far rebuilt two homes on
Bethea said she heard about the buyout program from a neighbor,
Reinstein, the assistant city manager, said another
County officials say they have tried to advise Lindsey, Bethea and other
"I just feel like we are being used to get money into the state... and then we are always left out of the picture," Lindsey said.
Since the hurricane, Bethea said, she has been paying the mortgage on a home she has owned for 22 years while living with her daughter or friends.
"I don't have anything still. I have no transportation, I don't have nothing," Bethea said. "It kind of breaks you down."
Evans, with the Methodist relief center, sympathizes with the
"They are going through a death, for all practical purposes. It's just like a death," he said.
If he could hire professional contractors instead of relying solely on volunteer labor, Evans said, people would be back in their homes much sooner. But that's not the reality. In December, Evans was lined up to oversee repairs or reconstruction of 55 more homes in the county.
"Our job is to work ourselves out of a job," Evans said. "I want to do all I can do, but I cannot control the government."
There is another large pot of money called Community Development Block Grants-Disaster Recovery. That money, from the
Nearly 200 residents in
The recovery program earmarks
What about
It is still unclear whether the county will use any of that money to buy Lindsey's home, with the sinkhole in the yard.
"Every situation is different," said Jackson, the assistant county manager. "What she thinks might happen may or may not happen."
Reinstein and Jackson could not provide an estimate on how many people in the county are still unable to move back into their homes.
"It just takes a long time to recover," said Ingram, whose own home was destroyed by Hurricane Fran in 1996.
Ingram said 14,804 people in
Now, it's a waiting game for the rest of the money to arrive.
In
The others declined Habitat's assistance, choosing instead to use
Storage units still sit in the front yards of some village residents who decided not to wait for volunteers to fix their homes.
State officials say they are moving as fast as they can to take care of people who have fallen through the gaps.
But, they say, every level of government has policies and procedures that must be followed. They say they understand the frustrations of those who continue to struggle.
"If you are one of those people who were impacted by this disaster, it doesn't feel fast. We know that," said
But she and
Burk said the biggest hurdle now is getting people back into adequate and affordable housing. Most people who continue to struggle are poor. They didn't have insurance and now have few places to turn.
"The impact to the housing stock was just so massive," Burk said. "In disasters of this magnitude, there is just never enough money to cover it."
The hurricane damaged or destroyed nearly 100,000 homes in
"Rebuilding after a disaster is a long process," Burk said.
Staff writer
GRAPHIC:
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TIMELINE:
We look at the events of Hurricane Matthew through the Observer's coverage of the flooding a week prior and the relief efforts.
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