Today marks the second anniversary of Hurricane Helene. Under Roy Cooper’s mismanagement, over 100 people died, billions in damage were caused, and communities across Western North Carolina were left behind after the devastation.
“North Carolinians deserved an effective leader in this time of crisis. Instead, Roy Cooper proved himself to be a bumbling fool who schmoozed with climate activists in New York just days before Helene hit, praised Kamala Harris’ bungled response, and cemented his legacy as the most incompetent government administrator in state history,” said NRSC Regional Press Secretary Nick Puglia.
In case you missed it, North Carolina leaders praised Michael Whatley’s decisive action to deliver relief to Hurricane Helene victims. Read more here.
Cooper failed to deliver for North Carolinians devastated by Hurricane Helene.
- Cooper was in New York attending a climate conference in the days leading up to Helene’s landfall when he should have been preparing in North Carolina.
- The Cooper administration never appointed a disaster recovery coordinator after Hurricane Helene. The position remained unfilled until Cooper left office.
- Six months after Hurricane Helene, zero homes were rebuilt under Cooper.
- Vetoed $227 million in Hurricane Helene relief, calling it a “sham.”
- Praised Joe Biden and Kamala Harris’ bungled response, calling their efforts “massive” and “unprecedented,” but it was mismanagement and incompetence.
- Blamed a “broken long-term recovery system” despite establishing the North Carolina Office of Recovery and Resiliency – a “taxpayer sham” plagued by massive deficits, years-long delays, and virtually nonexistent oversight of hundreds of millions in taxpayer dollars.
Cooper failed North Carolinians in the aftermath of Florence and Matthew too.
- Cooper left office with at least 1,100 families in Eastern North Carolina still waiting for relief.
- Cooper grossly inflated the amount of homes his administration rebuilt in the aftermath. “Cooper said he “helped repair or rebuild more than 14,000 homes,” but he only helped rebuild 3,522 homes.
- Under Cooper, only 1% of the $236 million in federal funds was spent years after Hurricane Matthew.
- Years after Hurricane Matthew, thousands of North Carolinians were still “stranded in motels or with relatives, in dilapidated houses or in travel trailers.”
Under Cooper’s NCORR, gross mismanagement and incompetence left hurricane victims displaced.
- Under Cooper, North Carolina took an average of 138 days to determine applicant eligibility for rebuilding.
- Construction did not begin for an average of four years even after homeowners were deemed eligible, leaving North Carolinians displaced.
- Cooper refused to remove NCORR Director Laura Hogshead, who oversaw eastern North Carolina rebuilding efforts, from her post. Cooper finally fired Hogshead after six long painful years on the job, but only after it was clear there was no job for Hogshead in the Harris Administration.
- Even Cooper’s successor, Josh Stein, canceled a contract with Hogshead’s company for recovery efforts in western North Carolina.