Hey Washington, D.C., and Raleigh! Over here — it’s eastern North Carolina and victims of Hurricane Matthew. Remember Hurricane Matthew? Flooding associated with the storm caused millions and millions of dollars in damage and displaced many people from their homes and businesses. The storm caused 20 deaths in the state.

So, the state asks the federal government for $929 million in storm-recovery assistance. The federal government responds by offering $6 million. That’s less than 1 percent of the requested amount. Last week, the North Carolina Senate’s proposed budget for the state allocates just $70 million for Hurricane Matthew relief. That amount was allotted after the federal government announced it would provide the $6 million. Another $80 million from the state had been allocated to match anticipated federal aid but will go unused because there are barely any federal dollars to match.

The storm caused an estimated $4.8 billion in damage from the storm, according to Gov. Roy Cooper. So far, North Carolina has received $1.4 billion in federal aid to help the state and its residents recover from all that damage.

Eastern North Carolina communities and their leaders should invite President Trump to the region. It should not take long after visits to Kinston, Windsor and Princeville for the president to realize $6 million in federal aid is not near enough to help eastern North Carolina recover from Hurricane Matthew.

As for state legislators, they can revise the state budget — right now — to take money from the state’s more-than-$1-billion “rainy-day fund,” which was set up to cover events like recovering from Hurricane Matthew.

Even the Winston-Salem Journal, in the west-central area of the state, knows the federal government should be doing more to help the eastern part of the state.

Last weekend, the newspaper’s editorial writers proffered this: “North Carolina pays its fair share in federal taxes for assistance at times like this. A generous people, most of us have not begrudged our contributions going to help others in times of similar crisis….

“Come see for yourself, Mr. President. We think you’ll realize the need.”

Amen. Let it be so.