Sandhills_Sentinel

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — North Carolina’s governor is asking Congress for more federal funding to recover from Hurricane Florence, saying the total $8.8 billion requested is comparable to the help Washington has provided for other disasters since Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

Gov. Roy Cooper on Wednesday asked congressional budget-writers and the state’s congressional delegation to provide another $6.3 billion in federal recovery funds on top of the $2.5 billion already expected.

If approved, the federal funding would make up for about half the total $17 billion in damage from September’s historic rains and flooding.

The state has already committed $850 million. The General Assembly this week is discussing a plan to spend $300 million of that money mostly to help rebuild damaged schools and compensate farmers whose crops and livestock were destroyed.

Feature photo: A convoy at Southern Pines U.S. Army National Guard during Hurricane Florence.

Copyright 2018, The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

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