NORTH CAROLINA -- The N.C. Emergency Management Association had their yearly convention with two special guests, the governor and the national FEMA administrator.

• Cooper says North Carolina sustained about $13 billion in damage from Florence
• The governor addressed climate change and says hurricanes are no longer 500 year events
• Brock Long, the director of FEMA spoke about the insurance gap that is getting in the way of people getting FEMA help

Gov. Roy Cooper surprised emergency services directors from across the state in Sunset Beach on Monday morning, thanking them for all of their hard work during Hurricane Florence.

Cooper says North Carolina sustained about $13 billion in damage from Florence, that's on top of the $4.2 billion for Matthew.

The governor addressed climate change and says hurricanes are no longer 500 year events for our state and we need to rebuild but do so with that in mind.

Cooper stated we must invest in infrastructure, roads, homes that are mobile, and weatherproof ones that can sustain storms. Otherwise our state will be in a lot of financial trouble.

Brock Long, the director of FEMA, spoke about the insurance gap that is getting in the way of people getting FEMA help.

He says, so far, FEMA put about $100,000,000 into the hands of 138,000 people.