More than $500k paid out to Guilford County residents, businesses who had damage from Florence, FEMA says

Nov. 19--GREENSBORO -- Federal and state authorities have paid out nearly $520,000 in claims from local residents and small business owners whose property was damaged by Hurricane Florence.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency said in a recent news release that 48 local homeowners and renters received just more than $92,000 in state and federal recovery grants, according to a Nov. 6 tally.

Hurricane Florence made landfall in North Carolina in mid-September and although it faded as it moved inland, the storm still inflicted significant damage locally, especially flooding.

FEMA reported that about 40 Guilford County property owners filed flood-insurance claims and that an estimated $416,000 in such payments have been made so far.

Another $11,000 in federal Small Business Administration loans has been approved to local companies at low-interest rates for disaster recovery.

The federal agency said that as of Nov. 6, it had authorized home inspections of Hurricane Florence damage for more than 100 households in Guilford County, and that at least 96 of them had been completed.

More recently, the agency added Guilford to a list of 51 counties in North Carolina where local governments are eligible to apply for federal assistance because of storm-related costs they incurred.

Cities and counties could be reimbursed for some of their costs in removing storm debris, making repairs to damaged streets and other infrastructure and putting emergency protective measures into effect.

Contact Taft Wireback at 336-373-7100 and follow @TaftWirebackNR on Twitter.

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