The damage caused by Hurricane Helene is only now being assessed on a large scale after the storm destroyed large sections of Appalachia, particularly in North Carolina.
The government in North Carolina has put out an estimate that they will need $53 billion to rebuild from the hurricane damage.
The catastrophic flooding and destruction caused by Hurricane Helene in western North Carolina likely caused at least a record $53 billion in damages and recovery needs, Gov. Roy Cooper's administration said Wednesday.
The state budget office generated the preliminary figure for direct or indirect damages and potential investments to prevent similar destruction in future storms.
In 2018, the state required $17 billion to rebuild infrastructure damaged by hurricane Florence. Helene has swamped that previous record as a large swatch of the state was underwater for days.
And this is only what the NC government requires to rebuild, never mind the damages citizens are on the hook for and the loss of human life in the disaster.
North Carolina state officials have reported 96 deaths from Helene, which brought historic levels of rain and flooding to the mountains in late September.
The storm and its aftermath caused 1,400 landslides and damaged over 160 water and sewer systems, at least 6,000 miles (9,650 kilometers) of roads, more than 1,000 bridges and culverts and an estimated 126,000 homes, the budget office said. Some 220,000 households are expected to apply for federal assistance.
Man, wouldn't it be nice if North Carolinians could count on government assistance instead of having to worry about if we've spent all our money, billions, on housing illegal invaders?
Yeah, that would be nice.
The damage in North Carolina and surrounding states is still being assessed, but it's safe to say this was one of the largest disasters in America this century.
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