Don’t handle wild animals, strange dogs or cats
ROCKY POINT – Pender County Health Department has confirmed a second case of rabies since March in the Rocky Point area.
Rabies is a viral disease that affects the nervous system of mammals. The virus can be transmitted through a bite or by contact with the tissue in your nose, mouth, and eyes. Symptoms of the disease may occur from 2 weeks to 6 months after exposure. Rabies is fatal once symptoms occur. In Pender County, rabies has also been found in raccoons, bats, skunks, and foxes.
In the warmer months, we spend more time outdoors. To protect yourself, your family, and your pets from exposure to rabies:
rabid animals: nocturnal animals that are seen during the day, animals that are not
afraid of humans, become aggressive, and attack other animals or people for no
reason may have paralysis of the limbs or throat or lying down.
the animal appears to be either sick or aggressive, do not touch or attempt to
control the animal. Call Animal Control at 910-259-1349, and report the animal
immediately.
vaccinations current. A current vaccination is required by law. If your unvaccinated
pet comes in contact with a rabid animal, your pet will be impounded and will be “put
to sleep.”
call animal control. If the attacking wild animal is captured it will be tested for
rabies. All dogs or cats that bite a person will be under observation for 10 days.
the pet, or cover the pet with a cloth or towel, and keep children away from the pet. Take the pet to your veterinarian.
wash the area where you were bitten with soap and warm water for at least 15
minutes. Secondly, contact your family doctor or go to the nearest emergency
room. Some bites may require you to take an antibiotic. All bites require an
updated Tetanus. Your doctor will call Animal Control and the incident will be
investigated by an Animal Control Officer.
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More than 1,000 homes completed to date for hurricane-impacted families
RALEIGH, N.C. – The application period for the ReBuild NC Homeowner Recovery Program will close at 5 p.m. Friday, April 21, with available federal funding committed to applications currently in process and those expected in the weeks ahead. This is the last opportunity for eligible North Carolinians who have not yet submitted an application to apply for aid through the state’s HUD Community Development Block Grant–Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) funding for Hurricane Matthew and Hurricane Florence.
“ReBuild NC remains focused on supporting families impacted by Matthew and Florence and getting them back home as soon as possible,” said Director Laura Hogshead of the N.C. Office of Recovery and Resiliency. “Homeowners who experienced damage from these storms can still apply for help with repairing and rebuilding their homes.”
Since opening the application period in June 2020, the Homeowner Recovery Program has worked to repair, rebuild and elevate homes damaged by hurricanes Matthew and Florence. To date, the program has completed homes for 1,048 families in communities located throughout eastern North Carolina.
Following the application period closeout, ReBuild NC will continue to complete ongoing projects and help Homeowner Recovery Program participants return home as quickly as possible. The closeout will not impact current awards and projects, case management or customer service. Current program participants with questions about the application closeout should contact their assigned case manager or call 833-ASK-RBNC (833-275-7262) between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. Monday through Friday.
Homeowners impacted by either Hurricane Matthew or Hurricane Florence must apply for assistance by the April 21 deadline. The fastest way to apply is through the program’s online application. Homeowners may also call 833-ASK-RBNC (833-275-7262) to schedule an appointment at the nearest regional ReBuild NC Center. Visit the ReBuild NC website for more information about center locations and hours of operation.
The Homeowner Recovery Program is administered by the N.C. Department of Public Safety’s Office of Recovery and Resiliency (NCORR). In addition to homeowner recovery, NCORR administers programs that include strategic buyout, mitigation, resiliency, community development and affordable housing. Learn more about NCORR programs at: https://www.rebuild.nc.gov/.
| RALEIGH – The North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) will hold a community information meeting on Tuesday, February 28, at Heide Trask Senior High School Auditorium in Rocky Point.
DEQ will share updates on private well sampling underway for PFAS contamination in Columbus, New Hanover, Brunswick, and Pender counties. Staff will also answer questions from the public about the private well sampling and alternate water supplies. When: Tuesday, February 28 at 6 p.m. Where: Heide Trask Senior High School Speaker sign-up will be available upon arrival at the meeting. At DEQ’s direction, Chemours is sampling for PFAS contamination in eligible private drinking water wells downstream of the Fayetteville Works Facility. Chemours is required to provide alternate water supplies to residents whose wells exceed specific action levels. To have your well sampled, call Chemours at (910) 678-1100. Messages to the Chemours call-line are monitored during regular business hours (Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.); Chemours should respond within 24-to-48 hours starting on the next business day. If you don’t currently qualify for well testing, you may qualify in the future. Chemours is required to keep your contact information and notify you if testing expands to your area. Additional well sampling information for residents, including criteria for eligible wells and other resources, are available on the DEQ website. ### |
| RALEIGH – The North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) will hold a community information meeting on Tuesday, February 28, at Heide Trask Senior High School Auditorium in Rocky Point.
DEQ will share updates on private well sampling underway for PFAS contamination in Columbus, New Hanover, Brunswick, and Pender counties. Staff will also answer questions from the public about the private well sampling and alternate water supplies. When: Tuesday, February 28 at 6 p.m. Where: Heide Trask Senior High School Speaker sign-up will be available upon arrival at the meeting. At DEQ’s direction, Chemours is sampling for PFAS contamination in eligible private drinking water wells downstream of the Fayetteville Works Facility. Chemours is required to provide alternate water supplies to residents whose wells exceed specific action levels. To have your well sampled, call Chemours at (910) 678-1100. Messages to the Chemours call-line are monitored during regular business hours (Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.); Chemours should respond within 24-to-48 hours starting on the next business day. If you don’t currently qualify for well testing, you may qualify in the future. Chemours is required to keep your contact information and notify you if testing expands to your area. Additional well sampling information for residents, including criteria for eligible wells and other resources, are available on the DEQ website. |
The Cape Fear Homeless Continuum of Care (CFHCoC) will conduct the annual Point-in-Time (PIT) survey of individuals and families experiencing both sheltered and unsheltered homelessness in the Cape Fear Region during the last full week of January 2023.
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) requires that each Homeless Continuum of Care conduct an annual count of people experiencing homelessness on a single night during the last 10 days of January. The CFHCoC will count both sheltered and unsheltered individuals and families experiencing homelessness in 2023.
The CFHCoC has added a “Homeless Stand Down” event for people experiencing homelessness in Pender County. This is in addition to the traditional outreach survey teams that will go out into the community.
The Pender Homeless Stand Down will be from 8 am to 2 pm on Thursday, January 26th at the Burgaw Library located at 103 S Cowan St, Burgaw. We will have volunteers conducting surveys of people experiencing homelessness who are both sheltered and unsheltered in Pender County.
What is the Homeless Stand Down? This event is a combination of a “Resource Fair” for those experiencing homelessness and a data collection site. It provides a place in which people experiencing homelessness can come to engage with service providers as well as volunteers collecting data. The site will host service providers Veteran Service Officers, Pender County Christian Services, Pender Long Term Recovery Group, and similar services and provide items that can be used by people experiencing homelessness.
RALEIGH- An agreement signed today ends litigation without changing the discharge permit issued to Chemours for the treatment of contaminated groundwater to significantly reduce PFAS entering the Cape Fear River.
The North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) and Cape Fear Public Utility Authority (CFPUA) reached an agreement with Chemours to end the litigation over the permit issued by DEQ on September 15, 2022. Last month, Chemours filed a petition to challenge the permit. CFPUA intervened to support the permit.
Today’s agreement does not change the final permit conditions and includes measures by which Chemours will proceed toward compliance with the final PFAS permit limits. Those limits take effect six months after discharge from the treatment system begins. In the agreement, Chemours agrees to take specific steps and provide monthly reports on its progress during the six-month optimization period. Chemours also agrees to dismiss its petition for a contested case hearing on the permit.
The National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit for the treatment system is part of the larger barrier wall remediation project to substantially reduce PFAS entering the Cape Fear River and impacting downstream communities. Currently, contaminated groundwater from the facility site flows untreated directly into the Cape Fear River. This project is designed to reduce the largest ongoing source of PFAS at the Chemours facility that contaminates the river and reaches downstream water intakes. The project must be operational by March 15, 2023, under the terms of the Consent Order. DEQ expects Chemours to take necessary actions to comply with the permit conditions and the Consent Order and meet its obligations to clean up the PFAS contamination impacting thousands of residents in at least eight counties and provide them with alternate water. DEQ will continue to hold Chemours accountable for the cleanup and for preventing future impacts to North Carolinians.
The agreement is available online here.