LUMBERTON — The city has more than $1.2 million in state money to repair its water treatment plant so that area residents won’t ever again lose service for more than a week as happened when it was swamped following Hurricane Matthew.
The city has also received almost $700,000 from FEMA that can be used for repairs, and the city expects another $1.2 million in FEMA money to build a berm around the plant to protect it from future flooding.
The Golden LEAF Foundation announced Thursday the city will receive $754,303 during its second round of distributing state money to fund unmet needs related to storm recovery. The city was awarded $500,000 for water plant repairs in April during the first distribution round.
The money is from the state General Assembly, but has been appropriated through the Golden LEAF Foundation.
The city’s water plant suffered $1.9 million in damage because of the storm and resulting flooding, City Manager Wayne Horne said. The Federal Emergency Management Agency would not fully reimburse the city for the damage because the facility had no flood insurance.
“We had a terrible flood,” Mayor Bruce Davis said. “Everything was under water.”
All the water plant’s electronics and control mechanisms were on the first floor, he said. They have since been moved to the second floor.
The city was shorted $500,000 by FEMA for not having flood insurance on the water plant, Davis said. Representatives of FEMA then conducted a site survey and saw the plant had other buildings, for storage and a generator, on its site. The federal agency reduced funding to the the city another $754,303.
The city’s application for the second round of Golden LEAF funding was to cover that shortfall.
“We had the first $500,000 covered,” Davis said.
The city did receive $678,394.60 from FEMA to help repair the water plant, Davis said.
It could be weeks before any of the Golden LEAF money reaches the city’s coffers.
“We don’t know, yet. We’re just getting the paperwork in place,” Horne said.
Davis is thankful for Golden LEAF’s help.
“Between the first round and the second round you’re looking at almost $5 million,” he said. “Golden LEAF has been the golden goose for Lumberton.”
“Now the city has to get flood insurance at the facility,” Davis said. “Otherwise if it floods again, FEMA will give us nothing.”
A total of $3.5 million was awarded to Robeson County in the second round of funding. The school district received $2,761,016 for repairs to several buildings. Part of the money will enable Robeson County to meet required deductibles, ensuring access to Department of Public Instruction insurance proceeds for a new central office and work at West Lumberton Elementary School, which is still closed. The University of North Carolina at Pembroke’s Entrepreneurship Incubator received $55,000 to defray the costs of renovations that Executive Director Thomas Hall said were completed in the flooding’s immediate aftermath.
Lumberton received $4.2 million for two projects in April. One was for $1.266 million to pay for repairs to several public facilities that are not covered by FEMA or insurance. A $3 million grant was for infrastructure and drainage repairs and improvements in the Tanglewood area. Pembroke received $310,000 at that time to boost capacity at the town’s water treatment plant.
The mayor praised the work of Bo Biggs, who sits on the Golden LEAF board of directors.
“Bo did an excellent job representing the city of Lumberton and getting the city the help it needed,” Davis said.
State Sen. Danny Britt also received praise from Davis.
“He is always ready to help,” the mayor said.
The skills and experience of the city’s staff and management were critical to getting the extra funding needed for the city’s recovery efforts, Davis said. They made sure funding applications reached Golden LEAF on time.
“We only had two weeks to get the application for the second round of funding to Golden LEAF,” he said.
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