On Sept. 5, 2019, Hurricane Dorian brought severe flooding and power outages to several eastern counties in North Carolina. To assist current Food and Nutrition Services (FNS) recipients adversely effected by this disaster, North Carolina requested a waiver to provide mass replacement of benefits, without requiring households to report loss of food or provide verification of the loss. Currituck County was one of eight counties included in the waiver.

The waiver allowed for an automated mass replacement of 30% of the August 2019 benefits.  Estimating the portion of the food purchased with monthly benefits that had not yet been consumed at the time of the disaster, and was therefore subject to loss, was relevant to making this determination.  The estimate also considered whether the loss was limited to perishables due to a power outage, or perishables and non-perishables due to structural or flood damage.

The state automatically issued the replacements on September 15, 2019.  These benefits are available to households on Sept. 16, 2019.

For more information, contact the Currituck County Department of Social Services at 252-232-3083.