The
ews
Journal
Hoke Count3^s newspaper since 1905
No.43Vol.lll
Raeford & Hoke County n.c.
Wednesday, December 28,2016
300 get FEMA grants, 1,800 apply
By Catharin Shepard
Staff writer
More than 1,800 families in
Hoke County filed for assistance
from the Federal Emergency
Management Agency following an
historic rainfall event and Hur
ricane Matthew earlier this year,
and just more than 300 of them
have received funding to help
rebuild their lives.
The latest numbers from
FEMA show that 309 households
in Hoke County received a total of
$691,610.76 in grant funding from
the agency through December 20.
That figure is dwarfed in com
parison to the amounts needed to
help support people in Robeson
and Cumberland counties who
were impacted by the storms:
in Robeson County, over 18,000
people applied and received more
than $22 million in assistance
from FEMA, while in Cumber
land County, more than 14,000
people applied and received over
$14 million in EEMA funding.
Nearly 78,000 statewide sought
help from the federal agency after
the storms, with total statewide
FEMA dollars approved adding
up to just over $85 million.
The money distributed in Hoke
County is in the form of grants
that won’t have to be paid back,
according to FEMA spokesperson
William Rukeyser.
Most people approved for the
funding usually receive it within
one or two days if they were able
to provide bank account informa
tion to FEMA so an agent could
(See FEMA, page 4)
Flooding in Hoke County, such as at this home on Goose Pond Road in the south, wasn’t generally as severe as in neighboring Robeson County. (Ken MacDonald photo)
Hurricane, election, threats, abuse top stories in 2016
This week, we take a look
back on the biggest stories that
were the talk of the town for
Floke County over the last year.
In no particular order, these
are our picks for the issues that
delivered the most impact in
2016.
Hurricane Matthew,
historic rainfall
Hoke County saw its first
major hurricane damage in
nearly 20 years when Hurricane
Matthew brushed the southern
North Carolina coastline, send
ing strong winds and torrential
rains far enough inland to im
pact the Sandhills. The gusting
winds knocked down hundreds
of trees and dozens of power
lines. Some parts of the county
received nearly a foot of rain,
resulting in flooding that dam
aged roads and even threatened
homes in low-lying areas.
Although Hoke County did
not experience the extent of
damage that neighboring Cum
berland and Robeson counties
struggled with, thousands of
residents were without electric
ity for days and thousands more
were also left without running
The mosque in east Hoke County, guarded earlier this year by a sheriff’s cruiser.
This Week
Man charged
with child
sex assault
Page 4
Man charged
with identity theft
Page 6
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The raid at The Haven. Hundreds of pets were removed.
The hat contest, a highlight of Stoneybrook.
] water due to power issues
at some county water
services sites. The main
road to the county’s solid
waste transfer site also
washed out, leaving no
way in or out and forcing
workers to truck garbage
can by can to landfills in
other counties.
The North Carolina
Department of Trans
portation has worked
ever since the storm to
repair roads that washed
out across the county,
especially in the highly
populated eastern areas
where rainfall was heavi
est. The city of Raeford
also worked to repair
washed-out sections of
Prospect Avenue and El-
wood Avenue. At the end
of December, most roads
were back open across
the city and county.
Hoke County Schools
were closed for a week
after the storm and stu
dents and teachers con
tinue working to make
up the lost time, with
Saturday school sched
uled for several weekends
in 2017.
County officials and
emergency management
(See STORIES, page 6)
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City: hurricane is ‘in rear view,’ new water meters in 2017
By Catharin Shepard
Staff writer
Hurricane Matthew was the big
gest issue the city of Raeford faced
in 2016, and working on utility
improvement projects - including
an initiative to replace all city water
customers’ water meters - will be
the focus of 2017, according to City
Manager Dennis Baxley.
The hurricane was the most
impacting event of the year, one that
cost the city hundreds of thousands
of dollars in damage and even
changed the landscape and appear
ance of some neighborhoods due to
the number of large trees that came
down in the storm.
Most of the biggest issues are
cleared up now, Baxley reported.
“We’ve got that in our rearview
mirror. We did finally get every
thing cleaned up, at least the major
ity of it. We’ve still got some piles
isolated here and there. We’ve re
covered nicely. We’ve got Prospect
(Avenue) back open,” Baxley said.
There’s one major issue remain
ing that still needs work: repairs to
Oakwood Avenue, a road that com
pletely washed out in the flooding
caused by the hurricane.
“Oakwood (Avenue), we’re meet
ing with EEMA Thursday to do site
visits and hopefully start writing
some projects and start getting some
reimbursements,” Baxley said.
The Prospect Avenue repairs cost
about $65,000, and it will likely
cost about $300,000 to repair Oak-
wood Avenue.
The fallout from Hurricane Mat
thew showed officials the city needs
to work on emergency preparedness
in terms of what documentation is
in place for quicker recovery, the
city manager said.
“The big thing is we need to
have some pre-approved contracts
in place if this happens again. We
make a phone call and the contrac
tor comes in, and we can carry on
with our daily activities,” he said.
Otherwise, the city fared fairly
(See CITY IN 2017, page 6)