Gov. Pat McCrory stopped at a church in Burgaw on Monday morning and shared an update on Hurricane Matthew flooding recovery efforts with local media.

“We’ve gotten much better news this Monday as the continued warm weather is helping the recovery operations,” said McCrory, speaking to a small group of reporters in the donation/distribution center at Gateway Community Church, 416 W. Bridgers St..

Over the weekend, state emergency officials shared an overall estimate so far of $1.5 billion in damage to businesses, homes and government buildings from the flooding caused by the hurricane. 

Only a few businesses in western Pender County appeared to be affected, county officials said, though the same wasn’t true elsewhere in the state.

McCrory said officials are still assessing the aftermath of the flooding, which became an expected focal point of emergency management efforts even before Hurricane Matthew drenched the Wilmington area Oct. 8.

“It’s going to be a long haul,” he said.

But for the time being, infrastructure priorities are water and sewer systems, roads and rail, the governor said.

The Wilmington area has not emerged unscathed when it comes to infrastructure problems. Locally, Cape Fear Public Utility Authority officials have been working to remind all of their customers, including businesses, that they are under mandatory water restrictions until further notice because of a water main break in Brunswick County. The raw water main break is significantly reducing the water supply for Brunswick, CFPUA and Pender County by 12.5 million gallons a day, according to a news release Monday. The repair has been made more difficult by flooding from the hurricane, CFPUA officials said.

In Burgaw, McCrory also responded to a question about the impact on livestock in the state.

“We haven’t done a full economic impact, but the [agricultural] community has gotten hit tremendously,” McCrory said. “There’s no doubt that we lost millions of chickens; we’ve lost a lot of hogs and pigs, not as many as we anticipated. We’re doing everything we can right now to ensure that we bury any lost livestock into dumps that are lined, and that’s been a major priority during the past four days.”

In addition to mointoring the burial of livestock remains and livestock waste, state officials are also keeping an eye on coal ash “to make sure there aren’t any serious spills at our utilities,” the governor said.

Pender County officials estimated that 1,500 residents have been displaced by the flooding, but many had found shelter with relatives and friends.  

McCrory said Monday that finding temporary and permanent housing for those who lost their homes is a major focus. He said that this week, he’ll be announcing “a long-term recovery group working on and helping those people that can least afford this hurricane impacting them.”

In the city of Wilmington, downtown’s Water Street has at times been living up to its name with some flooding, while Cape Fear River tidal flooding also appeared to have closed U.S. 421 near the Battleship North Carolina on Monday morning, according to photos shared by the National Weather Service on Twitter.

Melissa Phipps, director of human resources at the Hilton Wilmington Riverside hotel, said the Water Street flooding has been occurring about twice a day, only affecting the parking lot when it comes to the hotel. She said guests have been asked to use the nearby parking deck.