New Hanover County organization helping residents who are still recovering from Hurricane Florence 5 years after it hit

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — 5 years ago today, the Cape Fear experienced major impacts and damage from Hurricane Florence.

New Hanover County was one of the hardest hit areas as the Category 1 hurricane made landfall near Wrightsville Beach and years later, there are still people trying to recover.

Hurricane Florence caused an estimated $24 billion in damage, making it the 9th most destructive hurricane in U.S. history.

Over the past 5 years, more than 400 families have applied to Wilmington Area Rebuilding Ministry for assistance in rebuilding their homes.

Of the 419 applications WARM NC has received, a little more than 300 have been completed.

Some of the repairs range from new railing and siding to large portions of a house being rebuilt.

JC Lyle, the executive director of WARM, said it’s never too late to reach out to get help.

“If you’re still out there and you have Hurricane Florence damage to your home and you haven’t been helped yet, we haven’t forgotten about you,” Lyle said. “And we want to know who you are. We still have resources coming in the door in addition to applications, so there is hope.”

Porters Neck resident Angelo Nixon has been dealing with a leaky roof ever since Florence hit.

However, he just found out WARM NC will be putting a new roof on his house next week.

He said he’s glad he reached out to WARM as they’ve helped him out before.

“Actually WARM put the tarp on there and they prevented it from leaking any further,” Nixon said. “All I want to say is thank you, thank you, thank you. It’s not a greater organization than WARM.”

WARM NC currently has 50 projects in progress but they are always accepting new applications.