HENDERSONVILLE, N.C. — North Carolina is in line for another $873 million in federal emergency relief to rebuild roads and bridges wrecked by Hurricane Helene, the U.S. Department of Transportation announced Monday.
The money is North Carolina’s share of a $1.6 billion national emergency relief package unveiled by Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy. The state is receiving more than half of the total, with the rest split among 33 other states.
Federal transportation officials said the storm left damage at upward of 9,000 locations in the state’s mountain region and forced more than 1,400 road closures after the storm struck in September 2024.
Vice President JD Vance highlighted the funding the same day at a campaign rally at Hyder Warehouse in Hendersonville, where an estimated 200 to 300 people turned out. Vance cited a figure of $858 million and said the money would help rebuild eight major corridors damaged in the storm, with the Pigeon River Gorge stretch of Interstate 40, close to the Tennessee border, among them.
Vance also pointed to more than $7.5 billion that the Federal Emergency Management Agency has committed, money FEMA says covers Helene as well as other recent disasters. He was campaigning for U.S. Senate candidate Michael Whatley, whom President Donald Trump named his Helene recovery czar in January 2025, and for congressional candidate Jennifer Balkcom.
Gov. Josh Stein welcomed the transportation money in a social media post, saying repairing the region’s roads and bridges is central to its economic recovery. Back in June, Stein urged Congress to send the state upward of $10 billion more in federal disaster aid.
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