Federal money to help states hit by hurricanes Helene and Milton nears $2 billion

WASHINGTON (AP) — The federal government has approved nearly $2 billion in assistance across six states to help people hit hard by hurricanes Helene and Milton, the White House said Wednesday.

The federal government has been under intense pressure to show that it is getting help to areas devastated by the back-to-back hurricanes in late September and early October as it warns that more money will be needed to fund the response.

As the U.S. agency tasked with responding to disasters, the Federal Emergency Management Agency has been fighting misinformation since Helene slammed into Florida. The false claims are being fueled by former President Donald Trump and others just ahead of the presidential election.

Helene was a Category 4 storm that first struck Florida’s Gulf Coast on Sept. 26, dumped trillions of gallons of rain and left a trail of destruction for hundreds of miles across several states. Hurricane Milton swept across Florida two weeks later.

Hurricane response has become a key part of the upcoming presidential election with Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris both positioning themselves as the best candidate to respond to such calamities.

The money approved so far includes funds that go to residents for things like rental reimbursements when they cannot live in their house or quick infusions of $750 in cash to pay for things like diapers or food. It also includes money for public assistance such as reimbursing local governments for removing debris or repairing public infrastructure like roads, bridges or schools.

About $911 million has gone toward damage caused by Hurricane Helene, while about $620 million has gone toward recovery from Hurricane Milton, according to the White House release. Other funds have gone toward things like agriculture assistance. The six states where the money has gone are Florida, South Carolina, Georgia, North Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia.

The news comes on the heels of an announcement Tuesday that the Small Business Administration has run out of money for the disaster assistance loans it offers small businesses, homeowners and renters. So far the SBA has offered $48 million in loans to survivors of the two hurricanes, the news release said.

FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell has repeatedly said that her agency has enough money in its disaster relief fund to respond to Helene and Milton. But Criswell has said the agency eventually will need supplemental funding from Congress. If that doesn’t happen, FEMA would go into what’s called “immediate needs funding,” which means it would stop paying out for previous disasters and conserve its money for life-saving missions during any new ones.