Gov. Cooper tours Bladenboro, pushes for a smart rebuild

BLADENBORO, NC (WWAY) — Governor Roy Cooper stopped by Bladen County Wednesday to visit with families and assess the catastrophic damage some areas saw from Hurricane Florence.

Just like some of these other counties he has visited, Gov. Cooper calls it pure devastation.

“It’s pure devastation. So many homes and businesses under water. Along with churches and farms. Clearly there are a lot of people who are hurting right now,” said Governor Cooper.

After Matthew tore through Bladen County in 2016, Gov. Cooper says the recovery process needs to be done differently this time.

Comparing this to Matthew, he emphasizes the need for a smart rebuild.

He says they spent more than $700 million in recovery efforts with Matthew, but they need to build more sustainable structures.

For the time being, they are working with FEMA to get people into temporary housing.

“We’re working closely with FEMA on our temporary sheltering program, which provides people with subsistence to be in hotels, and to pay rent until they can find accommodations. We have the long term affordable housing issue that we’re going to attack with everything we’ve got,” said Cooper.

He adds affordable housing remains an issue and they will tackle that head on during this recovery process.

Bladen County has lifted their curfew for residents and crews tell me that a lot of the county does have power back.