WILMINGTON — Gov. Josh Stein, Rev. Franklin Graham and other state representatives welcomed President Donald Trump and the First Lady to Asheville on Friday morning. They toured Helene-devastated communities and Trump didn’t waste time toying with the idea of “overhauling” or “getting rid of” FEMA.
READ MORE: NC, FEMA advance programs to address flood risk properties in Pender County
“FEMA isn’t good — they send people in who don’t know the area, never been there,” he said. “They want to give you rules that you’ve never heard about … And end up in arguments over who does what — it’s not a good system.”
Trump blamed the Federal Emergency Management Agency for being “slow” and “bureaucratic” and vowed to deliver an executive order soon that will cut back the department or at the very least change it. He believed the federal government should, instead, funnel money provided to disaster-torn areas directly to the states.
“It could save us money and governors can handle it very quickly,” Trump said, vowing to work with Stein and representatives of the hardest hit regions, including Virginia Foxx (District 5), Chuck Edwards (District 11), and Tim Moore (District 14).
His proposal falls in line with Project 2025, a blueprint written by conservatives on what they would like to see in Trump’s second term. It included relocating FEMA from the Department of Homeland Security to the Department of Interior or the Department of Transportation.
Former deputy secretary of Homeland Security Ken Cuccinelli wrote the Project 2025 section on FEMA. He advocated for eliminating disaster preparation grants and phasing out the national flood insurance program, which provides flood coverage for five million property owners; private-sector firms are generally reluctant to insure flood-prone properties.
According to former FEMA administrator Craig Fugate, shifting the financial burden could significantly impair recovery efforts.
“A diminished federal role would likely result in slower recoveries, greater economic losses, and increased pressure on local governments,” Fugate wrote in an email to Port City Daily in October. “It’s worth considering that effective disaster recovery and preparedness programs are an investment. They reduce long-term costs, enhance community resilience, and save lives. Balancing fiscal goals with the realities of disaster management is essential to ensuring communities can withstand future events.”
Congress would have to agree to any FEMA changes. It authorized last year a $100-billion replenishment after Hurricanes Helene and Milton hit in the fall.
According to FEMA, it has issued more than $300 million for individual assistance to date in the western region of North Carolina. The Biden administration appropriated $100 million for bridge and infrastructure reconstruction and agreed to cover 90% of public assistance.
The increased reimbursement will help North Carolina with debris removal, emergency protective measures during the response to the disaster, road and bridge repairs, repairs to public buildings, equipment and infrastructure, utility repairs, and management costs.
The federal government typically covers 75%, though Project 2025 suggests it change to 25% for smaller disasters and capped at 75% for larger ones.
Many have criticized Biden and FEMA’s response to Helene. Trump, without proof, claimed Friday that FEMA withheld aid from disaster victims in the area who had Trump election signs in their front yards and suggested Biden didn’t help as quickly because of the lack of Democratic votes in the region.
“We call it the disaster after the disaster,” North Carolina House Speaker Destin Hall said.
“The FEMA people left you high and dry,” Trump added. “We’re not happy with FEMA.”
Hurricane Helene, which was downgraded to a tropical storm by the time it reached the mountains of North Carolina, brought with it more than 30 inches of rain in some areas. It caused massive flooding and landslides that contributed to 104 deaths and according to FEMA, per the Asheville Times, more than 30,000 damaged homes, with 1,000 totally destroyed. The state estimated 73,000 properties were damaged or demolished in December.
Trump met with affected families in Swannanoa on Friday, including Kim West. West described water had taken over her home within minutes after she and her husband, Chris, moved their vehicles to higher ground.
“I grabbed our dog and my husband put the dog food in a trash bag, and by the time we got to the driveway outside the house, the water was waist deep,” Kim West said.
The Wests sought safety on a sliver of land at the top of their road — flood waters surrounding them. They waited for hours for water to recede in order to seek help.
“We lost everything we had,” West said. “We didn’t even have a brush for, like, three days.”
The region is estimated to cost nearly $60 billion to recover.
“I have never seen such damage done by water,” Trump said Friday. It was his second time visiting the area, the first within days of the Sept. 27 storm.
He praised Rev. Graham and Samaritan’s Purse for the recovery efforts executed in the region. A volunteer from a local church, Pastor Ramona Nix, helped in the aftermath, keeping her church’s new large building stocked with supplies.
“I stayed there for three months and I slept on the floor for about three weeks because the need was so great,” she said, adding people were devastated. “They were coming in just day and night … from Kentucky, Tennessee, Texas, Indiana, Oklahoma, people saying they hadn’t received any help from the government.”
Nix said her church is set up to continue offering aid throughout the winter.
Her daughter, Mona Nix-Roper, said she’s been fighting with FEMA since day one, as 32 homes in her neighborhood in the Fairview area don’t have a bridge or roadways for access.
“They’re telling me to fix it and send them the receipts to get it reimbursed,” she explained. “We aren’t a rich community; we can’t afford these repairs.”
Nix-Roper said her application for damage to her home is still “pending” four months after the storm. She added she has written her Senators and Congressmen asking them to step up.
“We need help,” Nix-Roper said. “It feels like we’ve been forgotten.”
Trump vowed to sign another executive order that would help the rebuilding process by slashing the need for certain permitting and cutting through red tape. He said it would expedite road and infrastructure reconstruction, where more than 100 bridges still need to be repaired.
“North Carolina is going to come back bigger, better and stronger than before,” Trump said, noting he planned to ask Congress for more money in the recovery process.
When asked how much and when by media, Trump skirted the questions.
Gov. Stein released after the visit:
“It’s a positive signal that President Trump made his first visit outside the capital as President to our mountains. I thanked the President for coming and asked for his support of $20 billion in additional disaster relief and for 100% reimbursement of eligible FEMA expenses for another six months.”
A reporter also asked President Trump if conditions would be put in place for the state to receive the funds, but Trump didn’t answer. Instead, he confirmed he would require conditions on California’s federal aid for recent wildfire damage, including a voter ID law being executed and the release of more water from the northern part of the state to southern cities.
The president and First Lady were traveling to L.A. to see the wildfire devastation after leaving the Tar Heel State on Friday.
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