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Gov. Cooper 'Shocked' Over Small Amount For Hurricane Matthew Aid

North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper on Feb. 21, 2017 in High Point, North Carolina. Keri Brown/WFDD

North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper is urging Congress and the Trump Administration to reconsider North Carolina's request for additional funding to help with Hurricane Matthew recovery efforts. State officials say the amount approved by the federal government isn't enough to meet their needs.

Cooper has written the Trump administration and congressional leaders to express disappointment over the failure to meet the state's request for $900 million. Instead, they'll receive about $6.1 million.

A statement from the Democratic governor's office Wednesday said Cooper worked with North Carolina Sen. Thom Tillis and Reps. David Price and David Rouzer on compiling the additional funding request to Congress.

In his letter, Cooper wrote that more than 82,000 households have registered with the Federal Emergency Management Agency for help. He said families displaced by Hurricane Matthew are still staying in hotels because of a lack of rental and low-income housing.

Cooper also invited President Trump to North Carolina to see storm damage firsthand.

In December, Congress authorized more than $300 million in aid to North Carolina. But State Emergency Management officials say at the time, they were still in the process of assessing damage from the deadly storm that caused excessive flooding and devastated much of eastern and central North Carolina.

As of now, the state emergency management office says $1.4 billion in state and federal funding has already been allocated for recovery efforts.

They say damage from the storm is estimated at $4.8 billion.

*Follow WFDD's Keri Brown on Twitter @kerib_news

 

Keri Brown is a multi-award winning reporter and host at 88.5 WFDD. She has been honored with two regional Edward R. Murrow awards for her stories about coal ash, and was named the 2015 radio reporter of the year by the Radio Television Digital News Association of the Carolinas (RTDNAC).Although she covers a variety of topics, her beats are environmental and education reporting.Keri comes to the Triad from West Virginia Public Broadcasting, where she served as the Chief Bureau Reporter for the Northern Panhandle. She produced stories for the state's Public Television and Radio programs and was honored by the West Virginia Associated Press Broadcasters Association for her feature and enterprise reporting.She also served as an adjunct instructor at Wheeling Jesuit University and Bethany College in West Virginia. She worked with the Center for Educational Technologies in Wheeling, WV, and other NASA centers across the country to develop several stories about the use of science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) concepts in the classroom.Keri's journalism career began at WTRF-TV 7 in Wheeling. She worked in several roles at the station, including the head assignment editor. She also was a field producer and assignment manager at WPGH-TV Fox 53 in Pittsburgh.Keri is a graduate of Ohio University. When she's not in the studio or working on a story, she enjoys watching college football with her family, cooking, and traveling.Keri is always looking for another great story idea, so please share them with her. You can follow her on Twitter @kerib_news.

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