Darrick Virgil walked WRAL through his rebuilt home Wednesday after Hurricanes Matthew and Florence severely damaged his family home.
“It still feels like a dream,” Virgil said. “Even though I lost a lot, I gained a lot.”
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Now, Virgil is saving up his money to buy furniture.
In 2024, WRAL talked to Virgil about his struggles with to get a new home through ReBuild NC.
At the time, the program called off their deal to build him a new home on his land – saying the home would be too big to rebuild on his land.
“A lot of times I wanted to give up, but I'm not a quitter,” Virgil said.
WRAL’s reporting inspired Sarah Hill Waters to get involved.
“There was no way I could continue and not help out. I knew I could help out,” she told WRAL Wednesday. “I said, ‘We’re not going to let them leave him in this position.’”
Waters’ persistence led to Brightspeed donating a portion of the land needed to rebuild the home, removing one of the biggest barriers to making the project happen. The company also funded the required land survey, helping clear the way for construction to begin.
WRAL asked Pryor Gibson, the director of the North Carolina North Carolina Office of Recovery and Resiliency, why the process took so long.
“In this case, he didn't really own enough land to do a rebuild of his home. It took us over a year just to get the environmental parts and the infrastructure parts put together,” Gibson explained. “When we got that done, we realized he didn't have enough land to do a septic field. That's where Brightspeed came in, gave a little portion of their property. We were able to convince the county that Mr. Virgil deserved the house, and we were able to put it in place.”
Generally speaking, he said, coordinating funding between the federal government and the state took a long time.
Struggles with ReBuild NC
WRAL's Documentary Unit has extensively covered the program's struggles in Aftermath: North Carolina Hurricane Left Behind.
ReBuild NC was tasked with using nearly $800 million in taxpayer funds to help uninsured residents like Virgil rebuild their homes after Hurricanes Matthew (2016) and Florence (2018).
However, delays, red tape and mismanagement left many waiting years for help.
As of April 8, 2026, ReBuild NC reports 4,140 homes have been completed through the program; another 105 homes still need to be completed, according to spokesperson Bridget Munger. All but one of them is officially in the construction phase.
“We certainly wish it could've been faster; we certainly wish we could've done it with everybody being happy. But, we did make 4,200 folks happy,” said Gibson.
Last October, homeowners filed a lawsuit against the state, claiming discrimination based on disability.
A couple months later, WRAL Investigates questioned ReBuild NC about the quality of the homes built through the program after receiving complaints.
WRAL asked Virgil what he would say to others still waiting for their homes.
“Stay strong,” he replied.
