1999 - 2000 Broadcast Season
Broadcast Program Transcripts
Episode #1501
10/22/99

Holloway: How long will it take Eastern North Carolina to recover from disaster? If the flood did not affect you directly, then it's easy to soon forget about it. We'll discuss the aftermath of Hurricane Floyd next on Black Issues Forum. Stay tuned.

Holloway: Good evening and welcome to the new season of Black Issues Forum. I'm Jay Holloway. Good evening. And for the next several weeks to come we'll turn our attention to Eastern North Carolina and to those suffering most from Hurricane Floyd's devastating effects. In addition, we will address the state-wide impact of the Hurricane destruction and raise some issues stemming from flood recovery efforts in the State.

Joining us this evening is James Montgomery, Equal Rights Officer from FEMA out of Washington, D.C. headquarters. I'd also like to welcome by telephone Congresswoman Eva Clayton, U.S. Representative from District I. Welcome Representative Clayton.

Clayton: Thank you. I'm delighted to be with you and your listeners.

Holloway: Yes. And also our guest Mr. Montgomery, from FEMA.

Clayton: Hello, Mr. Montgomery.

Montgomery: Hello Congresswoman Clayton.

Holloway: And let me also say if you in our audience would like to join us live in our discussion this evening, please call 1-800-555-3l20. And let me say to better respond to your call, we ask that you keep your question and comments brief this evening. This is the first live program for many to come in the next few weeks. So thank you for joining us.

Let's start right off and talk about the statewide impact. I'm going to give some figures, but I want to speak to our statewide audience totally first because this is a statewide program. And Congresswoman, let's go to you. Let me ask you, why should people all across the State still be thinking about these issues that are affecting predominantly your district right now?

Clayton: Well when you think of the vastness and the severity of this hurricane on this region, you begin to know that it doesn't only affect the people that live in its immediate area: it affects the region as a whole and the State in particular. About 22 counties have severe flooding. You're correct, a good bit of it is in mine. But it really overlaps three congressional districts. I think there were at least 36 counties declared in the flood disaster. So you have a pretty close to more than one fourth of the State affected.

Secondly, you have agricultural areas mainly in Eastern North Carolina. So the crops we grow are shared with the State and the Nation. To the extent that potatoes are no longer available. To the extent that turkeys are no longer available. To the extent of chickens and pork and those things, all the vegetables that we produce in abundance are no longer available. That affects the consumer everywhere.

But just on the human suffering side. The people who lost not only their homes but right now in some instances their incomes, their small businesses have lost. Farmers have lost. So you feel as North Carolinians for any of us that are suffering.

Holloway: So this will be going on for some time, I'm sure.

Clayton: Unfortunately I think it will go on for many months and into the years.

Holloway: Let me ask Mr. Montgomery, from the federal point of view, from Washington, D.C., and FEMA, what is so unique to this situation that you've observed?

Montgomery: Well, Jay, all disasters have their own kinds of uniqueness. It goes without saying that Hurricane Floyd was one of the more devastating disasters in recent years. When you consider Hurricane Andrew and north _______ I think Hurricane Floyd was somewhere up in that category. As the Congresswoman Clayton indicated, there was massive damage throughout several counties. And it impacted most of the State of.the entire State of North Carolina. And because it impacted the entire State of North Carolina, it was a very different kind of response, very different kind of disaster as far as hurricanes go.

Holloway: Let's..I want to take time to update our.Yes Ma'am.

Clayton: Let me raise one other thing for you. When you think about the infrastructure and the water system, the environment, you begin to know those systems are State systems. And to the extent that even in the State, 95, which was built to sustain many, many floods, at least 2 or 300 years, it was flooded. And all the bridges that are out, roads that are flooded. Now that's gonna be a State expense. Because we have State roads. And so to the extent not only will that be limited as to an expense in that area, but I think North Carolina has to begin to think of it as ours. Not just those people in the East. Now one of the things I have been stuck with that North Carolinians have come together and have been very responsive to people who are suffering. So in many ways this will go off the radar screen and people will forget them. But I don't want them to forget it because the expense of building back those infrastructures, building back those houses, their lives and communities, will take enormous investment and commitment. So the generosity we see now is because the media has helped us in many ways.

Holloway: Speaking of that and speaking of that expense, let me share with our audience, just to review, how devastating, how big this economic impact was. I have some graphics here. We're talking about at least $1.3 billion in estimated changes, needs to North Carolina. Damage expected surpassed $6 billion caused by Fran in '96. $1 billion in crop and livestock losses and I think just today that's been dropped down a little bit. $250 million in housing damage. 15,000 homes unlivable. $2.2 billion was originally requested. It was just cut to about $1.86 billion. Changes in the State request for financial aid, reduction in $350 billion aid to farmers because the crop loss was not as high as originally estimated. And now the FEMA assistance I think has been cut to about $81 million. The agency has agreed to allocate that existing money.

I think we have our first caller now. And let's go to that right now. I think, is it Richmond County? Guilford County, go right ahead. You're on the line, please.

Male: Okay. I was wondering, why wouldn't the State or either the government give the people back their tax money for one year, for the year, last year. That would help all those people out so much.

Holloway: Okay, that sounds like a question for our Congresswoman.

Clayton: Ha ha. Well, since he says the State, I don't know if I can speak on it. But I think the.it would be of benefit if they could get some tax relief rather than state or federal. And I would suspect there is some state tax relief that they get. But I'm not sure that, and I agree with him, that would be helpful. But I'm not sure that's enough to make people whole that have lost their homes. Because they wouldn't be paying that much taxes. Some people have lost everything. And so if a tax relief in that loss, you probably wouldn't be paying taxes anyhow because of that. But I think that would be helpful.

Holloway: Okay. Now in terms of other callers here. Edgecombe County has really been affected. And that's in your district, isn't it, Congresswoman?

Clayton: It surely is.

Holloway: Well, I think we have a caller from Edgecombe County and I just visited there last weekend myself. Caller from Edgecombe County, go right ahead please.

Female: Well, I was inquiring as to whether or not you'd be able to help us rebuild our church. Our church was severely flooded. It's in an area adjacent to the river. And we're having to have services in another church at this point and we're a small congregation and I just want to know what were the guidelines for being able to get assistance in rebuilding?

Holloway: Let's keep that caller on the line because, let me ask you, are you in Rocky Mount, Tarboro, or Princeville, or somewhere in-between?

Female: Tarboro. In fact, all..several of the black churches in Tarboro were struck by the flood and, of course, most of the churches in Princeville were completely demolished by the flood.

Holloway: Let me ask Mr. Montgomery from FEMA who's right here, to address that. Can you sir?

Montgomery: Yes. If some structures are damaged by the flood. And if individuals have sustained damage, they can call the tele-registration number. I wonder if.have you called the tele-registration number?

Female: Well, no. We were just talking about it. We didn't know if the church would be eligible as an individual family is eligible.

Montgomery: Okay. I think you should call the tele-registration number. That number will be posted at the end of this program. If you would call that tele-registration number, they can give you information which would determine whether that structure would be eligible for any assistance. I think that would be the first step to pursue.

Female: Are churches as a group or as a type of building, are they eligible for assistance? Or do you look at it that way? I mean, are nonprofit buildings or institutions, are they assisted by FEMA, or are they only assisting with.

Holloway: Okay. I think we have your question, Ma'am. I think she's asking if nonprofit organizations can be assisted as well. And we're gonna talk about how you are working together. Are you.nonprofits can benefit from that?

Montgomery: There are some provisions for assistance in some of those instances. I think all of those are taken on a case-by-case basis. And I think the appropriate thing to do would be to call the tele-registration line and present that information, a determination, and an initial determination would be made at that point. And there could be some follow up from that point.

Clayton: Also, I would tell the listener many of the churches have been adopted by other churches. There has been a really a pouring out of churches who have tried to provide assistance. I'm aware that a foundation from I think Duke or somewhere is making funds available for assisting with the reconstruction of churches. Now some nonprofits as an entity, and governmental buildings are indeed eligible. I don't know what extent churches themselves for FEMA but I know there's some private resources that are being pooled right now to be of assistance to the churches that have been devastated. Plus there are some denominational networks or organizations are beginning to adopt churches to assist in that. So what we would suggest to you is try to find out that information as well. And I'll try to find that out for you and try to make that available through some of our caseworkers. As we know about that, we'll let you know about that. That's assistance over and above what FEMA does. But I think the regulations may be different.

Holloway: That's great, Congresswoman and Mr. Montgomery. Let's talk now about how well the state and federal agencies are working together. Many of the citizens have complained that the aid is not coming quickly and it doesn't seem like I guess federal, state, and even local that there seems to be some cloudy areas there. How are we working together better to meet the needs of these victims now?

Montgomery: Well FEMA works in partnership with the State of North Carolina to provide a broad spectrum of services and assistance to individuals who have been impacted by Hurricane Floyd. And we have done a significant amount of work in this area. The numbers for FEMA and for the State of North Carolina in this area, I think are very significant. For example, we have about 48,000 housing inspection schedule and up to 48,000 schedule we completed 42,000, which is about .roughly 88 percent of the housing inspections that are scheduled. This was a huge disaster. We've had about 66 or 67,000 applications, or tele-registration calls. And of those 66,000 tele-registration calls, we have had about 30,000 applications. And out of those 30,000 applications we've approved about $20 million in funds. So we've done a significant amount of work in this regard.

In addition to that, SBA has approved about $116 million in Small Business Administration loans. And those loans are to homeowners.most of them are to homeowners. As a matter of fact, about 23,000, 24,000 are to homeowners. And about 254 of those to businesses.

Holloway: Now let me ask you, there are people of all demographics out there who are trying to benefit from these funds. And I think we have a question from a person from Pitt County who's retired, who has a question for either our Congresswoman or our FEMA representative. Pitt County, go right ahead with your comment or question please.

Female: Hi, my question is, I work in business where people are coming to get supplies to rebuild. And I have a lot of retirees that come in who talk about, they've applied with FEMA and FEMA will help them. They'll give them a loan. And the average payback is $400 a month. When you've got people who are around retirement, or a few years away from retirement, how are they gonna pay this back?

Holloway: Good question. Thank you for your call.

Clayton: Well I think that's really the problem, is that FEMA provides a lot of help. But FEMA's help isn't sufficient in my judgement to make people whole. And that's the difficulty of the situation. FEMA is structured to give loans and grants to individuals. If you don't qualify for the loan, then your income would be low enough, you get a grant. And the grant has a cap on it too. That is for repair costs. And that's 13,600. Now if you're eligible for the loan, that means that apparently your income is above a certain amount. And it doesn't have to be a lot. Because if.actually I think, Mr. Montgomery, is above 12,000, you're eligible for the loan, is that right? Is it 11,600?

Montgomery: I didn't hear.

Holloway: She's asking, what is the minimum level that you're eligible for the loan is 11 to 12,000, or?

Montgomery: Well, the Small Business Administration makes a determination whether an individual is eligible for a Small Business Administration loan. And that obviously includes home owners as well as businesses. But that determination is made on the criteria that the Small Business Administration has. It makes a determination whether the individual has the ability to repay the loan and it makes some other determination based on their criteria.

But I think one of the things that we need to talk about is that FEMA has several programs. FEMA's program primarily is designed to provide safe, secure, sanitary housing for individuals who have been impacted by the storm, by Hurricane Floyd. That is the extent of the assistance under the housing assistance aspect of FEMA. However, if individuals are not eligible for SBA loans, then under some circumstances, under most circumstances they are then referred to the Individual and Family Grant Program of FEMA where there is a maximum, a cap of $13,600. Now we need to say that that is not the average grant but it is the maximum cap.

Holloway: Okay, let's go, we have another question from Greene County now about the FEMA relief. Go right ahead Greene County.

Female: Hello, how's it going?

Holloway: Alright, thank you for calling tonight.

Female: Great, great. I have a question upon the disaster issue, Hurricane Floyd. I'm having a difficult time comprehending as though FEMA and us as being taxpayers regardless of anything that happened as far as, how should I say, a person loses a house and a person that they, a little bit of stuff happens to the house. FEMA is like putting people on a scale and not helping people, but the money's there, that's why we pay taxes. So the money is there just in case a disaster happens. But they're not helping the people at all, I feel as though, because they're not on time, they're procrastinating. I'm just..I'm having a very difficult time trying to understand us as being taxpayers and people not being helped the way they should.

Holloway: So, you're saying it's not coming quick enough.

Female: That, and all the people are not being helped.

Holloway: Okay. Thank you for your question.

Montgomery: Well, I think I want to reiterate a couple of things. One is I want to talk about the fact that this was a very large storm. It was an unusually large disaster. That notwithstanding, I think that our figures indicate that we've done a very commendable job during the time that we have been here. That does not mean that we are not concerned about any individual who is not receiving assistance in a timely manner. But let me just suggest something about the figures. There were 66,000 tele-registration calls. As I indicated earlier, there were 48,000 inspection schedule and we have done 42,000 of those. We have approved $20 million in individual and family grants. And we have, as a matter of fact and Edgecombe County, was this caller from Edgecombe County? Or from Greene County?

Female: Greene County.

Montgomery: I'm sorry. We've approved a significant amount of monies in this disaster, $116 in SBA loans.

Holloway: Let me let Congresswoman Clayton respond. Are you hearing that as well in your office Congresswoman, that?

Clayton: Yeah, I am. I'm hearing it from individuals. I'm hearing it from locally elected officials. And part of it comes from the frustration of the realities that this is far more difficult and it's going to be a long time getting back to where we were. At first I think people were in the relief mood just to be thankful and appreciative that their lives were spared, or you know.Now as they try to dig out and see their homes and go to their government and their government is not responding in their minds, rather it's in the numbers might or if the figures may say otherwise. If that person is waiting in line is not getting what he or she thinks, then they can only respond from their perspective.

Holloway: Let's..we just have a few moments left. Let's talk about this housing issue and FEMA funds as temporary housing for 18 months. And we know that today our Governor was there in D.C., Congresswoman, and he's been saying in the media that he needs all of the congressional delegation to get behind this issue to get more money. But what are we gonna do about this housing issue for people for long term.

Clayton: Well, that's a problem. And I think the Governor, at least he spoke to me about it. And he recognized that neither the State nor the Federal government as they are designed have designed it in such a way to respond to the total housing need _____ and they're moving 10,000 houses that have been estimated to be completely destroyed or sufficiently destroyed that they shouldn't be built back. Shouldn't be lived in again. So will FEMA have enough money to restore it? Currently in the monies that FEMA has appropriated, it doesn't appear that ______. It doesn't mean they won't eventually get it. Because we just approved 2.5 billion dollars for FEMA's contingency fund. And that is for not just North Carolina. That's for from New York to Florida everybody who's affected by the Hurricane.

Holloway: Let me do this right quick. We have one other caller, caller if you can get your question or comment in very quickly, if you can make it brief we can get you in. If not, we may have to go ahead and close.

Female: Yes, I'm calling from Halifax County in a little town called Hollister. And we had about 15 homes that was destroyed in Hollister. And 6 of those houses were renters. And I got a denial saying that I weren't eligible for individual grant program. And I would like to know why anyone hasn't came out from the Congressman or the Governor or anyone hasn't said anything about this little town.

Holloway: Okay, little town. Very quickly. Are you familiar with that town, Congresswoman?

Clayton: I am, in fact I know Hollister. It's not that far from where I personally live. And I have passed by there and seen those houses. They were all flooded. And as you go on I think Highway 4, am I right, going to 43. So I think although no one has inspected the houses, the State indeed has been told about those houses because your FEMA emergency manager from every county is required to report to the State of that. Now, it's almost impossible for every community to have the Governor or the FEMA director to come. But it doesn't mean that you are forgotten. You should make sure you use those numbers. And if you're not getting the kind of request, call back again. What I tell people, they have to be persistent and determined to get those benefits that they are entitled to. In some instances in the government, we have to create new opportunities for them. So I think what we should do in Eastern North Carolina is to reconstruct and build back. We need a major redevelopment plan, not just a relief plan. I would like to see people relieved. But I would also like to see Eastern North Carolina build to its fullest potential.

Holloway: Well Congresswoman, thank you so much. We have just, believe it or not, run right out of time. I want to thank you so much for taking the time for calling from your home tonight to participate with us statewide. And we hope that..

Clayton: Thank you.

Holloway: And thank you so much James Montgomery from FEMA, from the Headquarters Office, we thank you so much for being with us tonight too and for entertaining questions.

Montgomery: Thank you for having me.

Holloway: And we thank you for calling in and listening tonight. And remember to get your pen and pencil to stand by because we're gonna give you some numbers. Thanks for watching Black Issues Forum for those of you in need of disaster assistance or those desiring to make any contribution. Stay tuned next for a list of important phone numbers if you have a question or comment, look for the Black Issues Forum e-mail address and phone number. And we'll be glad to help you.

Thank you again for watching Black Issues Forum this evening. I'm Jay Holloway. You have a blessed evening, and a good night.

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