ELIZABETHTOWN — High schools in Bladen County used as emergency shelters are slated to get generators as part of statewide funding by FEMA and the state of North Carolina.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Hazard Mitigation Grant Program is providing assistance for 24 generators and installation where needed to support critical public infrastructure. Two locations will get transfer switches.

West Bladen High School is getting a 500-kilowatt generator, and East Bladen is getting an automatic transfer switch.

Grants are provided through this mitigation program enabling state and local governments to elevate, buy out or reconstruct homes, and to strengthen public infrastructure. The latter enables communities to better withstand future storms and disasters.

The program is cost-sharing based. FEMA provides 70 percent of costs, and the remaining 25 percent is handled by the state. FEMA’s share of these projects is $1.07 million, and the state $359,000.

Hurricane Florence came ashore near Wrightsville Beach on the morning of Sept. 14 and brought with it three days of rain for southeastern North Carolina. Elizabethtown, at 35.93 inches of rainfall, shattered the previous record for a community. The Cape Fear, South and Black rivers all flooded, with the community of Kelly severely impacted when an earthen dam of 14.3 miles failed in multiple places.

This was the second hurricane in 23 months for Bladen County. Hurricane Matthew struck in October 2016.

Other communities that are getting public infrastructure help through generators and transfer switches include Calabash, Creswell, Kinston, Maury, Snow Hill, Deep Run, Plymouth, Rockingham, Ellerbe, Roseboro, Salemburg, Sandyfield, Snow Hill, Mt. Airy, Columbia, Plymouth and Whiteville.

Alan Wooten

Bladen Journal

Alan Wooten can be reached at 910-247-9132 or awooten@bladenjournal.com. Twitter: @alanwooten19.