Hurricane Helene: Biden approves federal emergency declaration for NC

President Joe Biden approved a federal emergency declaration for North Carolina Sept. 26 in response to emergency conditions resulting from Hurricane Helene.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency announced in a Sept. 26 news release that federal disaster assistance is available to the state to supplement response efforts.

Helene is predicted to hit Western North Carolina as a tropical storm Sept. 27.

In addition to the impending threat of severe weather caused by the hurricane, WNC saw a "predecessor" rainfall event that brought up to 8 inches in many areas, the Citizen Times reported. Combined with the 6-10 inches of rainfall expected over the next 24 hours, the threat of landslides and flash flooding in WNC locales including Asheville has increased.

"This will be one of the most significant weather events to happen in the western portions of the area in the modern era," the National Weather Service said in a statement. "Record flooding is forecasted and has been compared to the floods of 1916 in the Asheville area.”

On Sept. 26, the North Carolina Department of Transportation announced rolling road closures as flooding had already impacted numerous roadways across Buncombe County. Some residents have tried to brave the water despite the French Broad River rapidly rising, the Citizen Times previously reported.

According to FEMA, Biden's emergency declaration authorizes the agency "to coordinate all disaster relief efforts to alleviate the hardship and suffering caused by the emergency on the local population and to provide appropriate assistance to save lives, to protect property, public health and safety and to lessen or avert the threat of a catastrophe."

Federal funding is also available to state, tribal and eligible local governments and certain private nonprofit organizations on a cost-sharing basis for emergency protective measures, the agency said. This funding includes direct federal assistance for Buncombe, Burke, Cherokee, Clay, Graham, Haywood, Henderson, Jackson, Macon, Madison, McDowell, Mitchell, Polk, Rutherford, Swain, Transylvania and Yancey counties in WNC and the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians.

More: Hurricane Helene: Flooding, winds cause Western NC, Asheville event cancellations, closures

More: Hurricane Helene strengthens to Category 3: Track it, see when it will reach Western NC

More: Madison County in state of emergency, Marshall eyes record floods in Hurricane Helene mix

Jacob Biba is the county watchdog reporter at the Citizen Times. Reach him at jbiba@citizentimes.com.

This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: Hurricane Helene: Biden approves federal emergency declaration for NC