Tyrrell County will soon receive $271,131 to elevate two homes damaged by Hurricane Matthew, NC Emergency Management announced June 25.

The sixth award of Hazard Mitigation Grant Program (HMGP) funds — $24.5 million in nine counties — will be used to reconstruct 56 homes, elevate 57 homes and buyout 74 properties so the homeowners can find housing outside the floodplain.

Now that FEMA has approved the projects, the state can enter into the required agreements with the receiving counties and municipalities and discuss program requirements, explained Greg Thomas, NCEM spokesman. It is then up to each county or city to select contractors and begin the actual work.

State emergency management officials anticipate approximately $115 million total in HMGP grants will be awarded to help Matthew survivors get into more flood-resistant homes. They hope to have all of the mitigation grants awarded by early August.

In the months after Hurricane Matthew, NC Emergency Management staff evaluated more than 3,000 applications from homeowners for HMGP funding, 10 times the typical number as compared to similar disasters.

NCEM staff then submitted applications to FEMA to either acquire, elevate or reconstruct nearly 800 different properties damaged by Hurricane Matthew.

The latest announcement is in addition to $24.4 million in hazard mitigation grants to help 168 homeowners in impacted counties that NCEM has announced in the past two months, This award will help more families than the previous five awards combined.

The latest awards include:

• Bladen County – $245,931 to elevate 2 homes.
• Camden County – $327,144 to reconstruct 2 homes.
• Edgecombe County – $1,782,554 to elevate 15 homes.
• Town of Fair Bluff – $4,622,134 to elevate 17 homes and reconstruct 20 homes.
• City of Lumberton – $12,863,089 to elevate 20 homes, reconstruct 34 homes and acquire 47 properties.
• Robeson County – $2,401,094 to buyout 18 properties.
• Town of Smithfield – $1,779,713 to buyout 8 properties.
• Tyrrell County – $271,131 to elevate 2 homes.
• Town of Whiteville – $188,254 to elevate 1 home and buyout 1 property