RALEIGH — Pembroke has been awarded nearly $900,000 in state Hurricane Matthew recovery grant money to improve the town’s storm water system.
Pembroke will receive $893,291 to help repair and reshape channels and culverts that carry storm water away from The University of North Carolina at Pembroke campus. The storm water issues date back to before the hurricane.
“We assigned a cost estimate to that and we packaged with our Golden LEAF application,” Pembroke Town Manager Tyler Thomas said. “We’ve received notification that we have been awarded the grant but haven’t received grant guidelines.”
It is the second grant Pembroke has received in recent weeks. The town also won a Golden LEAF grant of $310,000 to boost capacity at the town’s water treatment plant so Trinity Foods can expand production and add jobs.
Currently Pembroke does not have a specific implementation plan because town leaders have only just received confirmation of the grant award, Thomas said.
The improvement plan focuses on three areas: the corridor along First Street from North Odom Street to the west side of railroad track and northeast until Bear Swamp; the corridor from First Street crossing Union Chapel Road to Jones Street and then across railroad to East Third Street, releasing into Watering Hole Swamp; and the corridor from Jones Street to northeast adjacent to a residential area and agricultural area and releasing into Bear Swamp.
Gov. Roy Cooper plans to ask Congress for additional funds now that damage assessments have been compiled across all 50 affected countiesby theh Oct. 8 hurricane and the record flooding that followed.
“North Carolina is working to help communities impacted by Hurricane Matthew rebuild even stronger and better than before,” Cooper said. “We still have a long way to go before those devastated by the storm are whole again but these grants and this action plan are key steps to get us there.”
North Carolina suffered an estimated $4.8 billion in damage from Hurricane Matthew according to state estimates.
Under the Disaster Recovery Act of 2016, North Carolina’s Department of Commerce awarded state-funded recovery grants based on requests from local governments. The Department of Housing and Urban Development has appropriated $198.5 million in community development block grant funding for the state.
