Month: November 2018

RALEIGH, N.C. (WTVD) — Tyler Butler-Figueroa didn’t have to pull any strings to perform the national anthem at the Carolina Hurricanes game Friday night. The 11-year-old solo violinist is performing at PNC Arena as a part of the Hockey Fights Cancer night. “It is very exciting and I’m not really nervous,” Tyler said. “I just block out everyone else, and I just think of the song.” Butler-Figueroa was diagnosed with leukemia at age 4. He…

The deadline for South Carolina residents impacted by Hurricane Florence to apply for federal assistance is Wednesday, Dec. 5. The Federal Emergency Management Agency has approved assistance to nearly 5,000 applicants for $21.1 million statewide, including nearly $13.5 million in Horry County. The assistance is available for home damages sustained from the hurricane between Sept. 8 and Oct. 8. FEMA spokeswoman Cheria Brown noted that 2,749 applicants from Horry County have been denied as of…

After fleeing a wildfire that came dangerously close to his Northern California home earlier this month, Dale Word evacuated again when flash floods inundated roads and trapped motorists and residents. Swift water teams used boats to make rescues at three homes and officials told people in about 100 vehicles to stay in place. The rain receded late Thursday afternoon, leaving a mess of sticky mud and debris. Downed trees and power poles littered the landscape….

By Candace Sweat, WRAL reporter Lillington, N.C. — North Carolina lawmakers on Thursday unanimously approved nearly $300 million in additional state spending to aid in Hurricane Florence recovery as local business owners asses what it will take for things to return to normal. Ilia Smirnov has a prime location for his restaurant and canoe rental business, right off the Cape Fear River. The location can also be the source of anxiety when a storm is…

A Northern California sheriff’s office released harrowing body camera footage of a deputy who was nearly overrun by flames as he helped with evacuations the night the deadly Camp Fire swept through Paradise. Butte County Sheriff’s Deputy Aaron Parmley was searching for a group of stranded nurses when he was forced to abandon his vehicle and continue the search on foot surrounded by flames. As smoke blackened the sky, Parmley activated his body camera thinking…

As thousands of people continue to recover from Hurricane Florence, the Food Bank of Central and Eastern North Carolina’s services are in high-demand. “We’ve had 22 of our 34 counties were federal disaster areas after Florence, so many many of those are still hurting,” explained Jennifer Caslin, who works with the Food Bank. Since the week following Hurricane Florence, they’ve provided more than 5.5 million pounds of food to storm victims. On top of that,…

RALEIGH, N.C. (WTVD) — By all accounts, Scott Darling seems like a nice guy and his backstory is the kind of stuff that makes you pull a little harder for him to succeed. We’ll have to root for him elsewhere, because the Scott Darling experiment, barely 18 months old, is over in Raleigh. Darling was waived Thursday by the Hurricanes, who decided, with the help of all empirical evidence, that they’re far better off taking…

RALEIGH, N.C. (WTVD) — A bill approving a $299 million Hurricane Florence relief package passed the North Carolina General Assembly on Thursday. The bill unanimously passed the House, sending it to Gov. Roy Cooper’s desk for final approval. “Once again, we had a historic natural disaster for this state, we have had a historic response in this state,” said senior House Appropriations Chairman Nelson Dollar, R-Wake. The bill includes some of the following: $25 million…

The Scott Darling era isn’t necessarily over. He may very well go to Charlotte, rediscover his form, put together a run of solid games and return to the Carolina Hurricanes for his eighth or ninth (or whatever it is now) chance in net. It’s possible. But we can finally dispose of any notion that there’s a great goalie somewhere inside him, waiting to emerge under the right circumstances, who has been unjustly let down by…

WASHINGTON (WTVD) — North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper is doubling down on his efforts to draw significant support from the federal government for hurricane relief and is requesting an additional $6.3 billion from Congress to help in the recovery. The formal request, submitted on Wednesday, follows a series of meetings on Capitol Hill with North Carolina’s congressional delegation and members of the Trump administration. “North Carolina has much work to do to build back stronger…