ELIZABETHTOWN — Through tears, a group of residents from the Kelly area pleaded for better aid in the wake of Hurricane Florence when Bladen County commissioners met Monday for an update.
Bradley Kinlaw, director of the county’s Emergency Management, led the meeting attended by several entities and stakeholders in the process. Included were representatives from the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the federal Small Business Adminstration.
An update on the breached dike protecting Kelly was particulary bothersome. Chairman Ray Britt said commissioners are seeking to hold responsible those who damaged the 14-mile earthen barrier in addition to finding a way to make repairs and restoration.
The Kelly residents joined several county commissioners in expressing frustration with FEMA. A particular sore spot was the process where applicants receive a letter that may say “denied” when the document has any issues, though the FEMA representatives confirmed it didn’t mean an actual denial of their application. In some cases, it could have been an incomplete form.
Commissioners Michael Cogdell and Dr. Ophelia Munn-Goins said they had heard from several people about such instances. Commissioner Ashley Trivette also questioned the difficulty with the process, as did Beverly Parks, the county’s register of deeds.
Parks explained that residents are being asked to handle items that might typically fall in line with paid counsel. One example she cited was an individual needing four tries to get the forms needed, and at better than $60 each.
“They need someone to help them, and we can’t do that,” Parks said.
Britt expressed understanding and compassion toward the county’s citizens in dealing with the complexities of the paperwork. Even the FEMA representatives agreed that their requests to their organization had not pushed through changes, such as with the form letters stating “denied” for just about anything.
“A lot of these people, they see that and they don’t read any further,” Cogdell said. “I’m trying to find out what they can do next.”
The representatives said reading letters, even those appearing to state rejection, in full is necessary. In many cases, they said, more information is all that is needed.
Several voices spoke to the point of storm victims not wanting to do loans, such as the SBA offers. Going back into the FEMA process was one of the few options.
Kinlaw said numbers may still change, but 153 homes had major damage or were destroyed.
“I know that number is not finalized,” he said. “We’ll be well over 200 once we get this data finalized, maybe even 300. Some of the moderate damage will turn major, especially as mold continues to grow.”
There were 581 homes listed as moderately damaged, and another 1,002 minor.
Kip McClary, director of General Services, said the county’s insurance carrier had been with him surveying remediation and recovery.
Few estimates in terms of dollars have been offered, but the courthouse tab is expected to top $100,000.
The Rowan solid waste site was completely destroyed, McClary said, but did reopen Saturday on a limited scale. The Kelly rescue building was completely flooded and a communications site went under water, destroying a generator.
Capt. Jeff Singletary of the Sheriff’s Office said a significant amount of communications equipment was lost in the Kelly area. A tower owned by Four County Electric Membership Corp. and used by the county is OK but it will be serveral months before power is replaced, he said.
McClary said 1,156 tons of vegetative debris, 302 tons of brown goods and 178 tons of construction materials have been picked up thus far. Residents and reporting officials assured there was much more to be picked up, with some inquiries as to how to keep people from going through road-side piles.
Because of the process to secure companies making those pickups, Britt and commissioners were told it would be into November before all of it is picked up.
Bladen County’s last shelter to be open, at the former Booker T. Washington Primary School outside Clarkton, closed on Oct. 3. Most of those there eventually went with family.