The Federal Emergency Management Agency rejects North Carolina’s request so that the agent matches 100% of the state funds to clean up Helene, according to a letter sent from the Acting Administrator Fema to the Governor of North Carolina.
“After a careful and comprehensive review of all available information, including those contained in your initial request for adjustment and cost appeal, we have concluded that the extension of the federal cost share is 100 percent for the transfer of debris and emergency protection measures, including direct federal assistance for an additional 180 days under the declaration of the Major Fema-4827-4827-DR.
The request for sharing costs comes from the Biden administrative direction to match 100% of the funds entered by the state to share disaster cleaning costs after the Helene storm destroyed the country as a category 4 storm in September 2024.
More than 230 people were killed by a storm, with at least 72 in Buncombe County, North Carolina, alone, in the middle of a flood record throughout the West of North Carolina.
In March 29, 2025, photo files, a sign seen outside the Fema disaster recovery center in the Fairview public library at Fairview, North Carolina.
Allison Joyce/Getty Image, File
While visiting North Carolina in January, President Donald Trump criticized the Biden administration for what he said was not enough to provide assistance.
Trump claimed that former President Joe Biden “did a bad job” in helping the residents of North Carolinian after a storm, saying, “This is absolutely unacceptable, and I will take strong action.”
Traditionally, there is a model of cost distribution by absorption of federal costs 75% to 25% for the state, but it was changed under the Biden government to be in accordance with 100% costs.
It is unclear how Fema will share costs between states and federal governments for future disaster assistance.
On September 28, 2024, the photo file, Scott Richardson surveyed his house that collapsed and destroyed after Helene’s tropical storm, in Boone, North Carolina.
Jonathan Drake/Reuters, File
In a statement, North Carolina Governor Josh Stein said the rejection would make the population of the state “hundreds of millions of dollars.”
“The money we have to pay to eliminate debris will mean less money to support our small businesses, rebuilding the city central infrastructure, improving the water system and our drainage and other critical needs,” he said.
Funding debates occur as the Department of Domestic Security, which accommodates FEMA, weighing how to eliminate agencies while still providing state funds for disasters.
On October 524, the photo file, a resident entered the Fema improvisation station to attend a claim by local residents affected by the flood after crossing the Helene storm, Di Marion, North Carolina.
Eduardo Munoz/Reuters, File
At the center of the plan is the Secretary of Domestic Security Kristi Noem, who has weighed how to cut the agency after Trump said in January that he would “start the process of reforming and overhauing FEMA in a fundamental manner, or might get rid of them,” and announce FEMA’s review in A in A in A President’s actions on January 24.
“The President has indicated he wants to eliminate FEMA because there is today and has a state to have more control over their emergency management response,” Noem said on May 8, adding that the agency had “failed” in its mission and had to be removed or settled. “He wants to empower local governments and support them and how they respond to their people,”
Fema hasn’t responded to ABC News’s comments request.
However, the internal review of FEMA this month indicates that the agency is “not ready” for the storm season 2025.
“When Fema turns into a smaller trail, the intention for the storm season is not well understood, so Fema is not ready,” said the review, on the grounds that the limitations of staff, recruitment and lack of coordination with countries when Trump’s administration tried to rearrange and reduce FEMA.
North Carolina is the second state that has a request for Fema assistance that was rejected after the agency rejected Arkansas’s request for disaster assistance when severe storms and Tornado hit the country in March.
The decision also came when the United States anticipated storm activity above the average at the Atlantic coast this year, with between 13 and 19 expected storms.