Announced assistance for those affected by Hurricane Florence

Hurricane Florence/

U.S. Department of Agriculture

Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen M. Nielsen traveled to Raleigh, North Carolina and Kinston, North Carolina yesterday. While in Raleigh, she met with North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper to discuss ongoing response and recovery efforts and tour impacted areas.

She also visited the #North Carolina emergency operations center and meet with personnel to receive a briefing on Hurricane Florence response and recovery efforts in the area. While in Kinston, Secretary Nielsen took an aerial tour of impacted areas.

Since Hurricane Florence made landfall last Thursday, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has deployed over 2,000 FEMA personnel and 71 teams in support of affected states. FEMA continues to work with federal, state, local, tribal, and territorial partners to respond to Florence.

President Donald J. Trump continues to work with officials and declared a Major Disaster for North and South Carolina as a result of #Hurricane Florence, over the weekend.

As a results of this, yesterday, USDA Secretary Sonny Perdue approved a temporary waiver that will allow participants in the USDA’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) in North Carolina to buy hot foods with their benefits through October 31, 2018. Noting that SNAP authorized retailers may need 24-36 hours to be ready to accept SNAP benefits for hot foods due to programming changes that may be required at their stores.

USDA also approved a waiver on September 16 to allow extended time for SNAP participants to submit claims for food lost in the disaster. Affected households in North Carolina now have until October 15 to report food losses and request replacement benefits so they can purchase food to make up for what

was lost in the storm.