RALEIGH — In a major victory for storm-weary North Carolina, a federal judge on Friday ordered FEMA to fully reinstate a vital pre-disaster mitigation grant program that the agency shuttered last year. The ruling clears the way for dozens of projects in Western North Carolina that have been stalled since the catastrophic flooding of Hurricane Helene.
U.S. District Court Judge Richard G. Stearns granted a motion filed by North Carolina Attorney General Jeff Jackson to enforce a prior court order. The new ruling requires FEMA to reopen applications for the Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) program within 21 days. Additionally, the agency must provide a strict timeline for processing more than 60 North Carolina projects currently in limbo, valued at approximately $200 million.
FEMA abruptly canceled the BRIC program in April 2025, a move that froze hundreds of millions of dollars in hazard mitigation work nationwide. In North Carolina, the cancellation halted critical efforts such as:
Sewer system upgrades
Riverbank stabilization
Stormwater infrastructure improvements
Advocates argue these types of projects could have significantly lessened the destruction caused by Helene in September 2024. Attorney General Jackson hailed the court’s order as a vital shield for the state's future, according to a statement.
"These are not abstract infrastructure projects — they are the difference between a flood that causes inconvenience and one that wipes out an entire neighborhood," Jackson said in a statement.
Municipalities across Western North Carolina, including those in Buncombe, Haywood, and Yancey counties, have been waiting on pending applications. Local leaders had previously warned that without the BRIC funds, essential safety work would remain indefinitely delayed, according to public statements.
FEMA now has a 21-day window to reopen the application portal and must submit a detailed disbursement timeline to the court within 60 days. For mountain communities where Helene reshaped the landscape and left hundreds of properties in high-risk zones, the reinstatement of BRIC is seen by some as a necessary lifeline for long-term recovery.