Governor McCrory met with the Hurricane Matthew Recovery Committee last week for the first time in Raleigh to discuss a recovery plan to cover the first 100 days.
The governor had established the committee earlier in the month to help residents rebuild after the massive hurricane ripped through the state, closing hundreds of roads and forcing thousands of residents into shelters.
Appointed to the committee were chief of staff Thomas Stith, who will chair the committee. Other members include Steve Wordsworth of Rocky Mount, Anne Faircloth of Clinton, and Vanessa Harrison of AT&T who represent the business, agriculture and utilities communities.
In establishing the committee, short term objectives set included raising money for those who needed it and reopening and rebuilding roads, bridges, rail and water lines. Longer term, the committee is to assess the storm’s financial impact on business, implement a strategy for legislative action for additional relief funding, and will look at implementing “a strategy for how to rebuild sustainable towns and communities.”
Local news agencies reported that, with floodwaters receding, work could begin focusing “on housing needs, infrastructure repairs, and connecting people back to some sense of normalcy.”
The governor says he “expects preliminary damage assessments to be completed this month and he plans to formally submit North Carolina’s request for supplemental federal disaster assistance to the state’s congressional delegation on November 14.”
A special session of the legislature is expected to be called in early December to address key issues.
More than $61 million in assistance has been approved thus far for relief to individuals affected and more counties are yet to be added.