Secretary Mullin, Federal Officials Visit Asheville to Spotlight Helene Recovery Efforts

Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin toured Chimney Rock Tuesday on his first official trip since replacing Kristi Noem, visiting western North Carolina alongside FEMA Administrator Karen Evans, OMB Director Russ Vought, Sen. Ted Budd, Rep. Chuck Edwards and Rep. Tim Moore to highlight federal storm relief efforts. The visit ended with a roundtable discussion in the Asheville area, where Mullin said he was focused on clearing a backlog of unresolved disaster work that accumulated under his predecessor's tenure.

The trip arrived against a stark fiscal backdrop. FEMA's Disaster Relief Fund has roughly $3.6 billion remaining, and a DHS appropriations bill that would replenish it with more than $26 billion has not passed. DHS itself was partially shut down for more than 50 days starting February 14, after Congress failed to reach an agreement over oversight of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, stalling recovery funding for communities still rebuilding from Helene's September 2024 strike.

One day before Mullin's arrival, FEMA announced $26 million to purchase 75 Helene-damaged homes across Yancey, Henderson and Polk counties, covering 53 properties in the Burnsville and Green Mountain communities of Yancey County, 18 in Fletcher, Gerton and Hendersonville in Henderson County, and four in Tryon and Saluda in Polk County. That announcement followed a March commitment of $66 million for hazard mitigation statewide, including more than $47 million earmarked for 150 property buyouts.

Buncombe County's share of that relief remains in earlier stages. Approximately 47 Buncombe properties have been cleared to begin the pre-offer process, which requires individual property surveys and appraisals before local government can make a purchase offer. Buncombe and Henderson counties together submitted applications for nearly 300 properties combined, meaning the majority of applicants are still waiting. Buyout valuations are calculated at fair market value based on the day before the storm; Buncombe's projected total sits at roughly $19 million under current program estimates.

The Hazard Mitigation Home Buyout program had been, in FEMA's own words, "severely stalled" because of an agency regulation that restricted roads from being built or repaired on land slated for acquisition, blocking local governments from completing infrastructure work alongside the buyout process. Mullin instructed FEMA to clear the remaining backlog and expedite approvals to the greatest extent possible.

"Under Secretary Mullin's empowering leadership, FEMA is taking swift, decisive action to help survivors," said Karen S. Evans, senior official performing the duties of the FEMA Administrator. "The funding announced today will make a real difference for recovering communities, but our work is not finished."

Homeowners in the Buncombe buyout queue who have not yet received a survey or appraisal notice are still in the pipeline; the county's program administrators have said the process can take years from application to final payment. Applicants who believe their property was wrongly excluded from the first approval batch can contact Buncombe County's Recovery and Resiliency office for a status review. The storm killed 108 people in North Carolina and caused an estimated $60 billion in damage statewide, leaving a recovery workload that, by the federal government's own accounting, is not yet resolved.