MAGGIE VALLEY - The federal government will spend $1.3 million to help repair damage from a landslide that cut off access to 37 houses in Maggie Valley.

The deal for federal funding came after the state Department of Transportation agreed to set aside $284,000 for repairs to Rich Cove Road, which was split in two spots by the half-mile-long slide.

For homeowners like Betty Miner the cleanup can't come soon enough.

With the top of Buck Mountain still unstable, Miner and her husband have been living in a friend's home at Lake Junaluska since the Feb. 5 slide.

"I just feel so displaced not being able to live in my own house," she said. "It's very nerve-wracking not to know and not being able to plan ahead."

A cleanup timeline was not yet set Monday.

Maggie Valley and Buck Mountain owner Ghost Town in the Sky will contribute $25,000 each, said state Sen. Joe Sam Queen, whose district includes Haywood County.

The highway department's board must approve the expense, but Queen said Transportation Secretary Gene Conti supports the deal and the board would likely follow his recommendation.

The federal funding is crucial because Ghost Town is in bankruptcy. The slide started after a system of retaining walls at the park failed during heavy rain.

The first step is for Maggie Valley to hire an engineer, said Mike Hinton, who is managing the project for the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Town Manager Tim Barth said that has not yet happened because the town still needs a signed state agreement.

The work will be tricky because the amount of unstable material above the slide area - an estimated 12,000 to 16,000 tons - is more than the amount that has already come down.

"Even the engineers were scratching their heads saying how do you get a piece of equipment up there," Hinton said. "The key thing is protecting life, first and foremost. We are going to proceed as quickly as possible taking time to insure public safety."

Queen said the state's decision to spend emergency highway money on the cleanup is a good use of public money.

Damage threatens Ghost Town's opening this spring, which Queen said could mean the loss of 200 jobs.

Full-time residents lived in 13 of the 37 houses cut off by the slide, and the work will allow them to return to their homes. Many are now living in rental homes and motels while waiting on repairs to the landslide area.

"We'd be leaving everybody hanging and the watershed in peril if we didn't help," Queen said. "We feel that it's very much in the public interest to solve these environmental problems and keep the economy of Maggie Valley alive and well for another day."

Queen and state Rep. Phil Haire, whose district includes Haywood County, helped secure the state funding need to get funding from the USDA's Emergency Watershed Protection.