State Officials to Visit Island

Staff members of the North Carolina Department of Safety’s Emergency Management/Hazard Mitigation Branch will be on Ocracoke Island this week to assist Hyde County officials in preparing FEMA documents for the Florence & Dorian disasters.

State officials will be in marked vehicles and NC Emergency Management-logoed shirts on:

• Monday, December 7, 2020

• Tuesday, December 8, 2020

• Wednesday, December 9, 2020

Their primary community engagement will be gathering FEMA’s required photos and remaining documents for over 200 Ocracoke homeowners who have applied for FEMA funding to elevate their home and bring it back into code compliance.

Due to COVID-19 restrictions, the agents will not be knocking on doors, but will take front, back, left and right view exterior photos of the homes as required to meet FEMA’s funding regulations.

This work completes the extensive work already submitted by Hyde County staff in the aftermath of Florence & Dorian. The state’s Hazard Mitigation personnel are here to assist the county in providing the documentation for FEMA to be able to evaluate and issue award decisions on damaged homes.

FEMA’s Hazard Mitigation Grant Program, Flood Mitigation Assistance Program, and Pre-Disaster Mitigation Grant Program all include property elevations as an eligible project type. Local communities — not individual survivors — are eligible for mitigation grants. To qualify, homeowners must meet all eligibility criteria and then apply through their local community, which applies to the state of North Carolina.

If you have any questions about this program, visit:

https://www.ncdps.gov/emergencymanagement/em-community/recovery-mitigation/hazard-mitigation.