Rumor mill draws ire
Mariel Williams
editor@mitchellnews.com
County Manger Allen Cook gave an update on storm recovery and rumors at a recent Mitchell County Board of Commissioners meeting.
“Volunteers are still running through the Mitchell Senior Center, and our Disaster Recovery Center is through the Mitchell Senior Center,” Cook said. “That is the place that if a person still needs help and needs to get some volunteers to work on something that is a disaster-related need, or if they have food needs … they can link up at our Disaster Recovery Center.”
Cook recommended that people with storm damage apply for Federal Emergency Management Aid.
“I heard it said by someone that FEMA’s kind of like playing the lottery — you can’t win if you don’t sign up,” he said. “You paid your taxes, if you can get a little help … it’s worth doing.”
Rumors
Cook expressed concern that there are a number of harmful rumors in the county.
“We are not taking children,” he said. “Our county does very much take seriously the welfare of our children, but on YouTube it talks as if our DSS [Department of Social Services] is out searching for kids to take, and that’s just not the fact.”
There have been concerns that some parents and guardians might lose custody of their children because of the extent of the storm damage to their homes.
“If there’s a complaint, we’re going to fully investigate that complaint,” Cook said. “But to say that we’re going around and looking at the storm and seeing if we can find somebody that’s a disaster victim and then pick on them even more by taking a responsible parent’s child, that does not have data to back it up.”
Cook noted that the Mitchell community is sufficiently tight knit that citizens should be able to verify rumors that are true, because it should not be hard to find first-hand information, rather than just something that someone heard somewhere.
“Report it to me if you see something, and we’ll investigate it,” he said. “We’ve tried to touch every house in this community.”
Cook noted that disaster recovery has been challenging as county employees have to work with unfamiliar regulations and state and federal forms and processes.
“We’re getting a lot of new information as we go,” he said. “Be patient with us.”
Cook also said that Hurricane Helene (downgraded to a tropical storm) was one of the biggest disasters in North Carolina’s history.
“It is re-writing the books,” he said.
Displaced persons
Commissioner Jeff Harding asked Cook to elaborate on the condition of displaced residents.
“I’ve been asked this and I don’t know — how many families do we still have displaced, without somewhere to stay?” Harding said. “[With] a house that they can’t occupy right now, they’re having to stay somewhere else, whether it be a hotel room or a tent?”
Harding specifically said he wanted to know about the living situation of school children. Cook said that question is harder to answer than it seems. Cook has noted in the past that most of the tents that have sprouted up around the county are actually being used by visiting volunteers rather than displaced persons.
“Those numbers change so often,” Cook said. “Maybe they’ll take the hotel FEMA housing and they’ll stay in a hotel two weeks, but then their house is fixed. … But if you say completely damaged homes, the number I’ve been hearing — and … it seems to be a moving target as people get situated, somebody will get a trailer hooked up in their yard … around about 40 citizens right now are going to be without a home for a while.”
Cook said that the immediate housing needs of those 40 have been addressed.
“But we’re trying to customize their needs a little better,” he said.
Confusing FEMA policies
Board Chair Harley Masters said that FEMA regulations make it difficult for county employees to get displaced persons information. In order to be authorized to view this information, employees must complete a FEMA data-sharing webinar.
Masters also noted that changes to FEMA policies may impact people who were denied aid previously, such as the fact that earlier federal policy was to reimburse generators only for those who had a medical need for electricity, but now other disaster-related generators are reimbursable as well.
Volunteer and FEMA CENTERS
The Mitchell County FEMA Disaster Recovery Center and the Volunteer Resources Center (VRC) is located at the Mitchell County Senior Center, 152 Ledger School Road, Baskerville. Hours are Monday – Wednesday and Friday – Saturday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. The center is closed on Thursday and Sunday.
Contact the VCR at (828) 660-0818 or email VolunteerMitchell@gmail.com or in person at the business hours listed above.
The FEMA DCR welcomes walk-ins during business hours. You can talk directly with a FEMA representative at the Center. To register for FEMA online visit DisasterAssistance.gov or call (800) 621-3362 between 7 a.m. and 10 p.m. The DRC is a one-stop shop where survivors can meet face-to-face with FEMA representatives, apply for FEMA assistance, receive referrals to local assistance in their area, apply with the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) for low-interest disaster loans and much more.
Distribution Centers
Bowman Middle School, 410 South Mitchell Ave., Bakersville. Hours are Monday & Wednesday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., & Saturday 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Buladean Community Center, 12190 NC 226, Bakersville. Hours are Tuesday & Thursday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.