In Chapel Hill's Camelot Village, John Alba's building looks unrecognizable from a month ago. 

His downstairs neighbors have evacuated and have been replaced by demolition crews, utility trucks and massive dumpsters. 

Other WRAL Top Stories

"They are in hotels," said Alba. "They are safe. It's a few people that live in the second floor, we are 'fine.' I think they are helping."

Nearly three weeks after Tropical Storm Chantal's heavy rainfall sent feet of water into lower level units, calls for help from impacted residents are growing louder. 

"There's a lot of people having to pay out of pocket to stay in hotels," said evacuated Camelot Village resident Connor Cox. "I would hope that our government would come out and help those people that really need that aid that...lost all their personal belongings. 

A week ago, Governor Josh Stein toured the devastated community. 

"We're going to do everything we can to tally up all the damage and see what kind of programs exist to help you, exist to help business owners, exist to help towns," he told one resident.

During the visit, Stein noted that determining what relief programs could be available to flood victims is dependent on damage assessments conducted in each county Chantal impacted. 

WRAL reached out to the North Carolina Division of Emergency Management asking if damage assessments were complete and what threshold counties have to meet in order to qualify for state or federal aid. 

The division did not provide the requested info by the time this story was published. 

In hard-hit Orange County, officials report residential and commercial damage from Chantal is estimated around $41 million. Public damages are estimated to exceed $28 million. 

In neighboring Durham County, damage to individual structures is estimated to be more than $17 million, according to Emergency Services Director Mark Lockhart.

Chatham County Emergency Management Director Steve Newton says quantifying damages is a key step to possible aid. 

"If there's significant enough damage...maybe the community doesn't have the capacity to recover...either state disaster recovery programs may be able to assist or federal programs," said Newton. 

His county missed the worst of the damage, but notes that unlike other tropical systems like Hurricane Helene, which saw widespread devastation, Chantal's impacts were more localized, meaning the road to possible aid could be less certain. 

"The path forward is not absolutely clear. We're absolutely wanting to do everything we can to support our residents and support our businesses and help them on their road to recovery, but this is not one of those clear, cut and dry events," said Newton. 

Devastated residents in Camelot Village and other Chantal-impacted communities say they now are waiting for any word of whether they'll qualify for any additional aid.