Hurricanes. Floods. Wildfires. Tornados. Earthquakes. Droughts. Blizzards. Ice storms. Infectious disease outbreaks. Pandemics. Industrial accidents. Chemical spills. Structural collapse. Transportation accidents. Grid failure. Water contamination. Large-scale layoffs. Factory closures. Recession. H … Read more

It is never too soon to start thinking about recovery, even in the midst of the pandemic. As communities look toward recovery, leaders are wrestling with how to establish a legally permissible aid program to assist small businesses with reopening. Many local governments established small business lo … Read more

This post is Part 2 of a two-part series explaining how Community Development Block Grants for Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) are administered in North Carolina and how they’ve been used to help rebuild communities affected by Hurricane Matthew and Hurricane Florence. In October 2016, Hurricane Matthew … Read more

By a unanimous vote in both chambers on Monday evening (October 15th), the General Assembly quickly approved and Governor Cooper signed legislation appropriating almost four hundred million dollars in disaster relief for communities and individuals impacted by Hurricane Florence.  The full text of S … Read more

As communities begin the long recovery process in the wake of Hurricane Florence, many residents will need temporary housing. One challenge, though, is the zoning ordinance.  Most zoning ordinances strictly limit manufactured homes and recreational vehicles (RVs). As the Federal Emergency Management … Read more

This year’s U.S. Atlantic hurricane season is officially the most expensive ever, amounting to $202.6 billion in damages across the Atlantic basin. This record-breaking hurricane season brought some of the most catastrophic storms in recent memory. As Hurricane Katrina reshaped New Orleans in 2005, … Read more

Jonathan Morgan is a School of Government faculty member. North Carolina’s recent experience with Hurricane Irene focuses attention on the difficult challenge of rebuilding a local economy in the aftermath of a major natural disaster.  There has been no shortage of disasters–natural and man-made–t … Read more

Norma Houston is a School of Government faculty member. North Carolina is no stranger to disasters.  Natural events such as hurricanes, tornadoes, wildfires, winter storms, mudslides, and floods have assailed every corner of our state.  Man-made events such as chemical plant explosions, natural gas … Read more