Western North Carolina has received only 9% of the federal recovery funding requested for Hurricane Helene, the lowest percentage in US history.

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Western North Carolina receiving only 9% of requested federal Helene funding represented the lowest federal disaster response rate in modern U.S. history. For comparison: after Hurricane Sandy (2012), New York and New Jersey received 67% of requested funding within the first year. After Hurricane Harvey (2017), Texas got 52%. The disparity wasn't because North Carolina's damage was less severe—Helene caused more deaths in NC than Sandy caused in NY. The difference was timing: Sandy and Harvey happened when the Disaster Relief Fund was flush with money and Congress passed multi-billion-dollar supplementals within months. Helene struck when the DRF was depleted, and the October 2025 shutdown prevented Congress from appropriating new disaster funding for nearly two months.

Western North Carolina has received only 9% of the federal recovery funding requested for Hurricane Helene, the lowest percentage in US history.

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