NEW HANOVER COUNTY, NC (WECT) — The New Hanover County Department of Social Services will accept emergency food stamp applications through Wednesday, Sept. 14.

Residents who are not currently receiving Food and Nutrition Services benefits may qualify for temporary assistance for a one-month period if the following criteria are met:

• The home was damaged or destroyed
• There are disaster-related expenses
• The resident lost income
• There was food loss as a result of a power outage of at least eight hours from Hurricane Irene

Eligibility is based on available income and resources, according to NHC’s Mark Boyer.

Gov. Perdue secured the food assistance through her request for a presidential disaster declaration that was approved last week.

“We have been working diligently with our federal and local partners to ensure that North Carolinians affected by Hurricane Irene get the help they need,” Gov. Perdue said in a news release. “There is no more urgent or essential need than food. State officials and local departments of social services are working to make sure that people living in the counties hit hard by the storm are able to apply for this emergency assistance.”

NEW HANOVER COUNTY, NC (WECT) — Wouldn’t it be nice to have breaking news, severe weather alerts, the three-day forecast, lottery results and sports scores texted directly to your cell phone? Well now you can sign up for all of those alerts with WECT.

Go to our Sign Up for Text Alerts page and enter you contact information. From there you can select exactly what you want texted to you. You can chose which teams or sports you want to know about, which lottery results you need to receive, and which county you live in to get specific weather forecasts for.

You will receive up to five messages per day. Text HELP for help. Text STOP to stop. Message and data rates may apply.