South Carolina Republican Gov. Henry McMaster said Thursday night that he expects the state to need more than $1 billion to clean up damage left behind after Tropical Storm Florence bulldozed its way across the East Coast.
“The damage in the northeastern part of our state will be catastrophic, surpassing anything recorded in modern history,” McMaster wrote Thursday in a letter to lawmakers. He also revealed the staggering amount of federal dollars the state will need to rebuild infrastructure.
More than half of the money — $540 million – will likely come from the Community Development Block Grant Entitlement program.
The state will likely have to accept another $165 million from the National Flood Insurance Program, $125 million from agriculture programs and $80 million from the Small Business Administration.
McMaster will also ask President Donald Trump to authorize more aid from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), including individual aid for things like temporary housing and home repairs.
Total costs associated with the storm could be worse. Florence could cause $30 billion worth of damage after it blows through the Carolinas, AccuWeather founder and president Dr. Joel Myers said in a Sept. 12 statement before the storm arrived.
The high damage estimate was driven “due to its predicted path, which is perpendicular to the coast, rather than at an oblique angle.” (RELATED: Hurricane Florence Sparks Worry Over Nuclear Plants In Its Path)
The Carolinas have not seen a major hurricane landfall in more than two decades, according to data from University of Colorado professor Roger Pielke Jr. Only two Category 4 hurricanes have landed in the region since 1990 — Hazel in 1954 and Hurricane Hugo in 1989.
Florence would tie 2008’s Hurricane Ike in terms of damages if inflation isn’t taken into account, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
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