Disaster Support Privacy Policy

The "Disaster Support” website is an official website of the State of North Carolina (the “State”) and is part of the NC.gov platform.  This website provides programs, services, and guidance to individuals impacted by, potentially impacted by or assisting individuals impacted a declared disaster in the State of North Carolina.  In addition, individuals may sign up for alerts regarding severe weather, disasters or safety threats.  This privacy statement addresses the collection, use, disclosure and security of information that may be obtained when you visit this website.  For questions regarding this Notice, please contact the Statewide Office of Privacy and Data Protection at OPDP@nc.gov 

 

Information You Provide Via Webforms and/or Email 

When you sign up for alerts or warnings regarding severe weather, disasters or safety threats, this website will collect the following information:  

  • Telephone number (to receive texts) and/or email to receive alerts in your email inbox.  

You may opt-out of these alerts at any time using the “stop disaster alerts” form on the website. In order to provide recovery resources and assistance specific to you during a declared disaster, you can sign up for services in two ways:  You can create a “MyNCID Account” where agencies will receive your personal information provided by you, will be used when you request information on your case or require additional services. For a MyNCID Account, you will be asked to provide the following information:  

  • Name, email address, date of birth, telephone number (optional), user name and password.

Once a MyNCID Account is created, you will be asked to agree to share additional information in order to receive requested services.   If you do not agree to share your information, you may apply for assistance without creating a MyNCID.     You can request services and information without creating a MyNCID Account by completing the form on the “Apply for Assistance” webpage.  That form will request the following information:  

  • Name, date of birth, street address, email address, and county.  

Once that form is completed, you will receive an email with a code allowing you to log on and select requested services.    The Disaster Support website will only request information that is necessary for to answer your question, refer you for services or process your request. The site will share information, emails or other communication with the appropriate agency , who can best answer your question or provide services or agencies that you request receive your information.    You will only be asked to create a “MyNCID Account” once and you will only be asked to provide information via the website one time.  If you receive emails or text messages requesting you to click on links in order to receive services, do not click on the link and please contact ditsecurity@nc.gov. 

Access, Storage and Retention of Information You Provide 

Only those agencies that you request information from in order to receive services, agencies that make up the State’s Emergency Management disaster response programs and/or are responsible for the administration of the Disaster Services website will access the information you provide.  Employees who have access to your information have received training on the safe use and handling of personal information.    If you interact with the website using the chatbot feature, your submitted question is used only to generate a response. The chatbot itself does not retain or remember what you submit. However, after the response is provided, we may save an anonymized version of the chatbot messages to help improve the service or comply with records retention requirements or North Carolina Public Records Law. Your message is protected while being sent by encryption, and any personal information is removed before anything is stored.  Your information is stored on the State’s secure infrastructure.  While no information technology system is completely secure, the State employs software programs to monitor network traffic to identify unauthorized attempts to upload or change information or otherwise cause damage.  Use of this site constitutes consent to such monitoring. Unauthorized attempts to upload information and/or change information on this website are strictly prohibited and subject to legal action to include the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act of 1986.  The State will not sell personal information you provide.  The site will share information provided when required by law enforcement or statute or as necessary for a vendor to provide services on our site. Any email, completed forms or closed case status is subject to the North Carolina Public Records Law but the State will not otherwise disclose your personal information without your consent.  All other identifiable information about you will be stored for a period of five (5) years. 

Cookies 

A persistent cookie is generally defined as a piece of data that is stored on the user's hard drive. We do not use persistent cookies on our website or in our web applications.  Temporary or session cookies are used on all NC.gov website pages. These cookies are stored in memory and are only available during an active browser session. Session cookies are also used by some of the applications deployed on our website to temporarily save information entered by a user as long as the user's browser is open. These cookies do not collect personal information on users, and they are erased as soon as you close your web browser. No personally identifiable information about you is maintained as a result of a temporary or session cookie.  You can configure your web browser to accept or decline cookies, or to alert you when cookies are in use. You do not have to accept cookies from us, but if you choose not to, some of the functions on our site may not be available to you.  Information Collected and Stored Automatically  Any information you provide or otherwise exchange with the State of North Carolina Disaster Support website is not privileged or confidential. When you visit the website to browse, read pages, submit forms, interact with a chatbot or download information, the site collects and stores the following information: 

  • The Internet domain and IP address from which you access this portal; 
  • The date and time you access the site; 
  • The pages visited; 
  • IP addresses, which are numbers automatically assigned to a computer when using the Internet; 
  • The type of browser and operating system used to access the site; 
  • The search terms used to get to the website, in addition to search terms used in the site’s search engine; 
  • The dates and times users access the site; 
  • The type of device used to access the site; 
  • How often users visit the site; and 
  • The information you exchange with a chatbot on this site. 

This site uses this information to help make the site more useful to visitors, to learn about the number of visitors to the site and the types of technology visitors use.  

Use of Google Analytics 

The State of North Carolina uses Google Analytics measurement software to collect the information listed above. The data is automatically sent to Google’s system and the system immediately aggregates the data. The State of North Carolina nor Google ever have access to the specifics of your partic The State of North Carolina gathers this information to improve our websites and has chosen not to share the aggregate data with Google. We may use the aggregated data to share with our partners and contractors to help improve visitor experiences.  The State of North Carolina will collect no personal information about you other than statistical information that can be used to make the site more effective unless you choose to provide that information to us. Except for authorized law enforcement investigations, or as otherwise required by law, we do not share any information we receive with anyone else. 

Copyright Policy 

The copyright for this website and its content is owned by the State of North Carolina, unless otherwise indicated. Content may also include materials that are copyrighted by others and used with permission of the copyright holder. 

Interaction with Children Online 

The State is committed to the protection of children’s online privacy. The Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) governs information gathered online from or about children under the age of 13. Verifiable consent from a child’s parent or guardian is required before collecting, using, or disclosing personal information from a child under age 13. If a State agency website intends to collect information from children under 13 years old, COPPA-required information and instructions will be provided by the specific web page that collects information about the child. The web page will specify exactly what the information will be used for, who will see it, and how long it will be kept. 

Links to Other Sites and Social Media 

Our site provides links to other websites. The privacy policies described here do not necessarily apply to any external sites. Read the privacy policies of other sites you visit. Be informed. You are the person best qualified to protect your own privacy.  Where we manage a presence on social media sites to share government information and engage with our audience, we do not collect any personally identifiable information through those sites. We do not use personal information made available by the third-party sites. If you submit a question or comment to us via a social media tool or platform, we may reply directly to you via that platform, but we do not track or record any information about individuals who use or interact with us via those platforms. 

Disclaimer and Terms of Use 

The State of North Carolina nc.gov disclaimer and terms of use can be found here: nc.gov/disclaimer-terms-use.

Updates

The State of North Carolina reserves the right to modify this privacy notice at any time without prior notice. Any changes will be posted on this page, and your continued use of any State of North Carolina website, including any chatbot or other function offered on the website, after such change constitutes their acknowledgement of this disclaimer in its entirety. 

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This page was last modified on 08/21/2026