RALEIGH -- More than 720,000 North Carolinians in 304,000 households affected by Hurricane Florence received assistance buying food over the past seven weeks, Governor Roy Cooper announced.

“When your life has just been turned upside down by a disaster, help feeding your family is critical,” Governor Cooper said. “Disaster food assistance helped families get through those first few weeks after Florence hit.”

Last week marked the culmination of disaster food assistance in 34 counties impacted by Hurricane Florence and administered by the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services, in coordination with federal and local government partners.

“Our highest priority is the health and well-being of the North Carolinians we serve,” said DHHS Secretary Mandy Cohen, M.D. “Having access to food is an essential part of health, so we did everything we could to ensure that families in need could get this help as quickly and easily as possible.”

The assistance, from the Disaster Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program or “D-SNAP,” was made available in counties declared eligible under federal disaster declarations.