COLUMBIA, S.C. — The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) said South Carolina is slowly returning to normal just one month after Hurricane Helene's devastation.
The storm is responsible for nearly 50 deaths in the state.
FEMA held a press conference to update the public about the state's recovery efforts. Coordinating Officer Brett Howard confirmed that the progress so far has been successful.
“Right now, we have approved over $204 million for the survivors here in South Carolina," Howard said. "That’s over 4,000 applications."
"So we are here in Richland County making sure that people are registered, making sure people are in our system and seeing what their unique needs are and how they can be met with our FEMA programs,” he added.
FEMA said it has opened eight disaster recovery centers in South Carolina, and over 6,000 survivors have utilized them.
In the community, during a door-to-door walkthrough conducted by FEMA in Columbia, residents in hard-hit areas had the chance to express concerns and even register for assistance, including one resident, Clayton, who suffered from damage and wants to apply for help.
“I want to apply for it because I want to recover some of the monthly expenses that I had because of the disaster with the generator and the fuel and all the lost food," he said.
FEMA spokesperson Tiana Suber said an overwhelming number of people are applying, which is good, but they still expect more.
“You know we are happy to see those numbers grow every single day," Suber said. "Think we are well over 200,000 people that have registered so far."
FEMA officials encouraged anyone who needs help to apply now.