COVE CITY, North Carolina — North Carolina continues to make progress six months after Hurricane Florence made landfall, but Governor Roy Cooper says more work needs to be done.
Cooper visited Craven and Jones Counties on Tuesday to check on the recovery progress.
He said the storm was devastating, but the devastation was quickly met with "amazing acts of bravery and kindness from first responders, volunteers, and neighbors helping neighbors."
North Carolina suffered an estimated $17 billion in damages from Florence. Cooper says more than $1.2 billion in state and federal money has been approved to help with recovery, and he is pushing Washington for even more federal help.
$128 million of those funds went to homeowners and renters in FEMA grants.
$392.4 million in U.S. Small Business Administration disaster loans was approved for nearly 10,000 people, including homeowners, renters, and business owners.
Nearly $90 million went to farmers, and $3.2 million to fishermen.
Since Florence, state crews have repaired and reopened 2,500 roads and bridges, with a cost of $122.9 million to date. Only six roads and bridges remain closed because they require extensive planning and repairs.
Florence was North Carolina's wettest storm on record, dumping more than 8 trillion gallons of water, according to the National Weather Service. Some areas got as much as 35 inches of rain, resulting in catastrophic flooding.
44 people died because of the storm.
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