North Carolina
Six years after Hurricane Florence: Hundreds in southeastern North Carolina still need home repairs or rebuilds
WINNABOW, N.C. (WECT) – Just one day away from the sixth anniversary of Hurricane Florence, Crystle Silvey says horrible memories are flooding back.
“We lost everything we owned,” Silvey said. We didn’t we didn’t even have any clothes.”
Silvey’s home in Winnabow was one of several impacted by the intense flooding Florence brought to the area. After the water in her home got several feet high, she and her family were eventually rescued by the Coast Guard. Their nightmare was only just beginning, though.
“Everything was ruined and we had to throw everything we own on the side of the road on the side in front of the house,” Silvey said. “Pretty much only thing that was left to this house was the framing.”
That’s when they began their rebuilding process. Her husband and volunteers from a local Methodist church worked long hours to build back what they had lost. She believes the stress of this time could be what caused her husband’s early death just one year later.
“I do think that it put a lot of stress on him because you know, we just started all over,” Silvey said.
Now, several years after her home was completed, Silvey says she’s still dealing with some of the damage sustained in the storm.
“The floor started separating and there’s a mold in our bathrooms now, even though it has new sheetrock and my son’s closet has a leak inside of the the light fixture in there. So it’s really actually not safe right now.”
Silvey says many of her neighbors are dealing with the same thing.
However, the problem extends far beyond the Winnabow area. WARM NC CEO Andy Jones works daily with low-income families who need help repairing their homes after strong storm systems.
“Surprising as it is even six years later, we still get requests with Hurricane Florence damage,” Jones said.
He said since the hurricane hit in 2018, they’ve helped 350 homeowners with damage, but there are currently still 35 homeowners on their waitlist. Jones says all of those homeowners on the waitlist have reached out years after the storm, though. He says no one who reached out back in 2018 is still waiting for help from them.
“Even three years after the fact, we started getting kind of another wave of applications coming in and we’re like, ‘oh these are the ones that thought they were going to be able to do it all on their own,’” Jones said. “They’ve exhausted their resources. Now, they’re reaching out to us. The ones that are left are the ones that are really difficult cases and circumstances and big jobs that are still out there.
Another group, Rebuild NC which works on a statewide level, says they have a lot more cases to get through. The vast majority of their cases are in Southeastern North Carolina.
“We have just about 4,300 applicants from Matthew and Florence,” Rebuild NC’s director Laura Hogshead said. “And the reason that we keep those families together with Matthew and Florence is because so many of our Florence applicants were all so impacted by Matthew. We have gotten 2,623 of them into completed homes and the others are either with a contractor or inactive construction. Just a handful of our families are not yet with the general contractor.”
727 projects are in active construction with Rebuild NC as of September 2024.
Hogshead says the reason they are still actively working on projects related to Florence today is because of a delay in receiving funding.
“We did not get the money until 2020 even though the event was in 2018. So we are the folks that come in and help any of our families that could not be fully recovered with other Federal funding streams or state funding streams, and that’s why it takes so long because this is designed to be the last funding.”
She said they had a similar experience to WARM NC with several people reaching out for help years after the fact.
“We closed our applications last April,” Hogshead said. “So April 2023, but we did have applicants up until the last day. In fact, we had a lot of applicants on the last day. So you had folks who came in in June of 2020 and you had folks who came in in April of 2023. Families that we’re seeing now are mostly the families that either applied later or had significant challenges to their application that we’re helping them overcome.”
When it comes to the timeline, Jones said it’s normal that many people still need help six years later.
“The common estimate from FEMA is that it takes anywhere from five to eight years to recover from those kind of storms,” Jones said. “When we first heard that number immediately following hurricane Florence, I thought ‘no way, you know in five years surely we’re going to be able to really have this thing nipped in the bud’ and that’s not the case. And so we’re really, you know, just now kind of in that sweet spot six and a half years later.”
Hogshead said in some ways, it feels odd to acknowledge Hurricane Florence was already six years ago.
“It has been a very long time since Hurricane Florence in some ways and in some ways, it’s been a blink, but we work every day to make sure that folks can get home because if you are affected by a hurricane, it’s not over until you’re in your new home and that’s what we keep in mind every day,” Hogshead said.
While repairing or rebuilding a new home is important work and often necessary to protect a homeowner and their family’s health and safety, Silvey can’t help but miss her original family home.
“It’s kind of hard to tell a story when there’s one person missing,” Silvey said. “And that’s my husband. I really like the house that I had before. I like it better than the one that is here.”
Copyright 2024 WECT. All rights reserved.
Kate Barr is a Democrat.
But when voters in North Carolina’s 14th Congressional District open their ballots in the March primary they’ll find an “R” next to her name.
She is literally a RINO or Republican In Name Only.
Barr considers herself a Democrat but said she’s running as a Republican to make a point about gerrymandering.
“Fundamentally… I hate gerrymandering. That is pretty much my core motivation for everything I do in politics,” Barr told Spectrum News 1.
The district, west of Charlotte, is solidly Republican.
The current congressman won by 16 points last election.
Barr said it speaks to just how gerrymandered North Carolina is. State Republican lawmakers recently approved a congressional map that favors Republicans in 11 of the state’s 14 congressional districts.
That’s in a state that only voted for President Donald Trump by three points in 2024 and elected a Democrat for governor.
“When the North Carolina state legislature passed the new congressional maps that further gerrymandered this state it became clear there has to be a political price for this behavior,” Barr said.
This is not the first unusual campaign for Barr.
In 2024 she ran as a Democrat in a district that heavily favored Republicans. The focus again was to draw attention to gerrymandering.
Her motto was “Kate Barr can’t win.”
She did not win, losing by 30 points.
But Barr was encouraged by some of the results she saw and in November launched her campaign for Congress.
This time she decided to run as a Republican.
She’s hoping that gives her an edge because in North Carolina voters not registered with either major party, known as unaffiliated, are the largest voting block in the state, and can participate in the Democrat or Republican primaries.
“Voters understand that the way to have a say is to choose which primary is actually going to elect their leader and vote in that primary,” Barr said. “I can absolutely win in this one… because primary turnout is so low it just doesn’t take that many people showing up and saying we’ve had enough to unseat an incumbent.”
Barr faces former North Carolina Speaker of the House and incumbent Republican congressman Tim Moore. His campaign told Spectrum News 1 that “Kate Barr’s latest stunt is an insult to Republican voters. Folks know a far-left fraud when they see one, and she doesn’t belong in our primary.”
Whether she wins or not, Barr hopes to encourage a fix to gerrymandering, an issue that’s front and center in North Carolina and around the country.
“Gerrymandering is wrong no matter which party is doing it, and we need to put an end to it. Period,” Barr said. “The goal, end result, is to have an independent commission in every state made up of citizens.”
Follow us on Instagram at spectrumnews1nc for news and other happenings across North Carolina.
POLK COUNTY, N.C. (WLOS) — Two people are dead after a truck ran off the road in Polk County, according to the North Carolina Highway Patrol.
HIGHWAY PATROL SEEKS PUBLIC’S HELP IN FATAL HIT-AND-RUN THAT CLAIMED LIFE OF LEICESTER MAN
Highway patrol says the fatal collision occurred at approximately 12:55 p.m. when an F-150 was traveling east on North Carolina 108 near Farm Lane.
The truck ran off the road and struck a tree, catching fire and being consumed by the flames.
According to the Highway Patrol, the driver and passenger were trapped in the vehicle and died as a result of the collision and the fire.
UPDATE: MULTI-CAR CRASH ON ASHEVILLE BRIDGE NOW CLEARED
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Highway Patrol says it is working with the Medical Examiner’s Office to identify the deceased.
Charleston Southern Buccaneers offensive lineman Andrew Threatt has committed to transfer to the North Carolina Tar Heels. He spent the last three seasons at Charleston Southern.
“It’s not every day you can get coached by a well-experienced staff like North Carolina,” Threatt said. “Even excluding Coach [Bill] Belichick there is at least 10+ years of experience across the board, not to much the academic prestige of the University of North Carolina.”
This decision comes after North Carolina made Threatt an important target in the Transfer Portal this offseason. He was on campus on Saturday, January 3rd, on a visit.
“It was a great visit,” Threatt said. “I really enjoyed the experience and am excited to see what coach Belichick is building in Chapel Hill. The staff is truly one of a kind, and the fan base is even more amazing.”
Andrew Threatt played his high school football at Chesterfield in South Carolina. At the time, he had been overlooked as a recruit. That’s despite being a three-time All-State and All-Region selection during his high school career.
Over the past three seasons, Threatt has started 32 consecutive games for Charleston Southern. Those seasons have widely been considered rebuilding seasons for the Buccaneers under head coach Gabe Giardina. Still, at 10-25 over those three years, it’s been a frustrating run in terms of wins and losses.
As a freshman in 2023, Threatt began his time with Charleston Southern as a right tackle. Later, he’d kick inside to left guard as a sophomore. That was before returning to right tackle. So, it’s going to be interesting to see where North Carolina wants to use him along the offensive line. Regardless, it’s clear he brings some versatility to the Tar Heels in 2026. At 6-foot-3, 315-pounds, he profiles as an interior offensive lineman in the ACC.
Andrew Threatt would be named First Team All-Conference (OVC/Big South) in 2025. He has one season of eligibility remaining.
North Carolina’s first season under legendary head coach Bill Belichick was a frustrating one. The Tar Heels went just 4-8. However, there was some growth by the end of the season, and North Carolina finished winning two of their final five games.
Neither rushing yards nor sacks allowed are entirely the fault of the offensive line, but the offensive line does play a key role in success there. Those stats also tell an interesting story about North Carolina. The Tar Heels were 122nd nationally in rushing offense, averaging 105.25 yards per game. North Carolina was also 55th in sacks allowed, giving up 1.83 per game. So, there is room to improve.
Certainly, Belichick is looking to make changes on offense. Bobby Petrino is coming in as a new offensive coordinator for North Carolina. The Tar Heels have also already added a new transfer quarterback in Billy Edwards Jr.
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