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Residents of Western North Carolina are confused about the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s role in helping locals with disaster recovery after Hurricane Helene.
Locals are especially confused FEMA plans to end temporary housing assistance for about 2,000 North Carolina residents on Saturday during a snowstorm, when temperatures across the Appalachian Mountains region are expected to be below 20 degrees.
The housing program was initially supposed to end Friday, but FEMA pushed the deadline back to Saturday.
“I’m actually talking to several people who are losing FEMA vouchers,” Ryan McClymonds, founder of the volunteer group Operation Boots on the Ground in WNC and East Tennessee, told Fox News Digital on Friday. “They’re terrified they won’t have a place to stay for their families after today. But we found out pretty late last night… that FEMA is extending the deadline by 24 hours.”
Married couple Victoria and Jeff stand on a street with their dog holding a sign that says “I need help, I lost everything in the flood,” after Hurricane Helene destroyed their mobile home about a month earlier in Asheville, North Carolina. on October 29, 2024. (Photo by YASUYOSHI CHIBA/AFP via Getty Images)
FEMA told Fox News Digital that its Transitional Shelter Assistance (TSA) program is providing hotel rooms to thousands of Hurricane Helene survivors in WNC.
On January 3, FEMA began notifying some families staying in hotel or motel rooms that they are no longer eligible for the program due to one of the following reasons: an inspection indicated their home is now habitable, they declined an inspection, or FEMA has been unable to contact them to update their housing needs.
About 3,600 households will remain eligible to continue staying in FEMA-sponsored hotel or motel rooms as of last Saturday, compared to the 2,100 eligible households reported by local news outlet WLOS on Thursday.
AMERICANS SPEND THANKSGIVING ON TENTS AS HEAT, ELECTRICITY AND FOOD STILL HARD TO FIND
A section of Swannanoa, North Carolina, destroyed by Hurricane Helene is covered in snow on January 10, 2025. (Steve Antle)
About 2,000 households are still expected to leave their hotel rooms on Saturday. Continued eligibility is determined on a case-by-case basis. When eligibility ends, FEMA notifies survivors approximately seven days before their departure date.
The agency is also closing disaster recovery centers in the area through Monday, “due to winter weather.”
“This is unfair and possibly criminal.”
“Biden and Mayorkas bankrupted FEMA to pay for housing for illegal immigrants, and now American citizens who lost their homes in Hurricane Helene are essentially being told to go fuck themselves,” the agency told Fox News Digital. Trump spokesperson and incoming White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt. “This is unfair and possibly criminal. The good news is: President Trump will be back very soon to put Americans first again.”
Hurricane Helene forces North Carolina residents to sleep in tents where houses once stood.
FEMA said it has provided shelter to 13,000 families displaced by Helene since late September 2024, when the storm made landfall. There are currently 5,600 households staying in hotels, the agency told Fox News Digital.
“We’re told to expect power outages and possibly water outages. Yeah, I’m not excited about that.”
“We got this notification on our phone, I think it was yesterday… which was the severe weather notification,” Swannanoa area resident Asha Wild told Fox News Digital. “They’re telling us to expect power outages and possibly water outages. Yeah, I’m not excited about that. And with the cold.”
Swannanoa residents walk through devastating flood damage from the Swannanoa River in western North Carolina on Sunday, Sept. 29, 2024. (Travis Long/The News & Observer/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)
Wild lost his home to nine feet of flooding as Helene destroyed areas of his hometown and dozens of others in the mountains, leaving 104 dead in North Carolina alone.
Power grids and other critical infrastructure remain very fragile in some areas after Helene, and residents fear being left without electricity, water, gas and even food again. Volunteers from Western North Carolina and across the state have been volunteering in affected areas for months. Generous donors from across the country have paid for and delivered caravans to those in need of accommodation and storage.
A store in Swannanoa, North Carolina, destroyed by Hurricane Helene, is covered in snow on January 10, 2025. (Steve Antle)
Long lines of vehicles can be seen lining up to get propane and other necessities from various donation drives in the area.
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WATCH: Volunteers in North Carolina donate propane to those affected by Helene
Zach Bumgarner, vice president of Bumgarner Oil, told Fox News Digital that his company has “given away 22,000 gallons of product since the storm hit.” They have hosted six propane drives since late September, allowing people to bring empty propane cylinders to designated locations, where their company fills them for free.
“You have people in tents and temporary shelters and that kind of thing. And then you add really cold temperatures, and that creates a dangerous situation,” Bumgarner said. “So hopefully what we’re doing is helping to close some of those gaps a little bit and maybe keep someone warm. That’s really what we’re trying to do.”
WATCH: Drivers line up for propane
Wild said she asked her friend, who works at a local grocery store she has been going to for 18 years, how things were going.
“He said, ‘Yeah, people are losing their minds.’ And I realized they had cleaned it up,” Wild said.
Mekenzie Craig removes mud from a wedding photograph that survived the landslide that killed her in-laws on September 27. (Adam Eugene Willis for Fox News Digital)
Steve Antle, a retired Asheville police officer who has been in contact with Fox News Digital since the day after Hurricane Helene destroyed parts of WNC, said some areas are recovering well while others remain “frozen in time.” “. Even wealthy neighborhoods still have piles of debris and downed trees, he said.
Antle has partnered with others inside and outside his community to purchase and deliver thousands of dollars worth of critical supplies to his hometown of Fairview and surrounding cities since immediately after the hurricane.
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An aerial view of destroyed and damaged buildings following flooding from Hurricane Helene on October 8 in Bat Cave, North Carolina. (Mario Tama/Getty Images)
Some locals still live in tents or caravans, mainly because they do not want to abandon their properties. Others are still without heat or electricity, he said.
“I’ve given up trying to find out anything about how this administration and FEMA operate.”
“I don’t know what they think,” Antle said of the agency. “You know, I want to think it’s government incompetence because that’s the best alternative… And I hate to think that.”
McClymonds, of Operation Boots on the Ground, became emotional as he described the people he has been helping since September.
A drone view shows the damage after Hurricane Helene hit Asheville, North Carolina, on September 29. (Reuters/Marco Bello)
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“Don’t forget about them,” he said. “I saw a lot of things while I was in the military. And to come here and see the lack of response and the lack of help is very heartbreaking. I have prayed with I don’t know how many people. I have heard and “They have had so many family members who have lost a lot and work hand in hand with family members who have lost loved ones to the storm and are tired.
FEMA said it is important for storm survivors to stay in contact with FEMA and provide regular updates on their status. Those with questions about eligibility should contact the FEMA Helpline at 1-800-621-3362.
