North Carolina Gov. Josh Stein visited Western North Carolina Jan. 7. He said the region will receive over $1.6 billion in block grant funds to recover from Helene.

North Carolina will receive $1.6 billion in federal grants to help rebuild communities ravaged by Helene, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development announced Tuesday.

State officials will receive and distribute the money from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, the agency said.

Western North Carolina received good news Tuesday in its struggle to recover from the impacts of Hurricane Helene. Gov. Josh Stein and HUD Secretary Adrianne Todman announced the region will receive two Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) awards totaling $1.