More than 1,000 bridges across rural North Carolina were destroyed or damaged when Hurricane Helene struck. A year later, efforts to rebuild these vital community lifelines remain underway, with crews working to restore access to cut-off residents.

North Carolina

Communities in western North Carolina are still recovering from the destruction caused by Hurricane Helene, which damaged or destroyed over 1,000 bridges. Residents like Jeff Hughes have relied on volunteer help to build temporary bridges, allowing them to resume daily activities, though many still lack permanent solutions. 

State funding has recently become available to support the reconstruction of these critical structures, a shift from earlier policies that left property owners responsible for repairs. While federal assistance is available, it is significantly less than what the state now provides. The rebuilding process is complicated by challenging terrain and access issues, but local resolve remains strong as efforts continue.

One year after Hurricane Helene, NC is still rebuilding

Eye on America goes to every corner of America in search of stories of interest to the entire country. Tonight, the mountains of Western North Carolina, ravaged by Hurricane Helene one year ago tomorrow. More than 1,000 bridges were destroyed or damaged there. Dave Malkoff, who covered Helene, went back to check on the effort to rebuild these community lifelines. Now, you'll see my house when we start down this road. We first met Jeff Hughes last winter. He's the guy who builds handmade caskets deep in the mountains that were hit by Helene. When the storm took out his personal bridge, he was forced to detour with his caskets just to access the main road. You know, you had a long trip to take it out and walking backwards across the river on a walk bridge. A year later, things look different. With help from volunteers, Hughes now has a new bridge. It's so much easier now just to back up and load it up and take it straight on and not have to load it and unload it. How do you feel walking across this bridge now? You know, I feel fine. It's just good enough until the next flood, which are common in these mountains. But getting a permanent bridge? We're in the mercy of the state, I understand now. We're on the list, so we don't know how far down the list we are. Just downstream, five families still have to do this, drive through moving water just to get home. We still feel like we're exactly where we were September 27th, 2024. So because we haven't seen anything come in from the state or FEMA to actually put a bridge back. Robin Aulis and her team of volunteers built this footbridge for the families here, but she says the community can't shoulder this burden alone. Get the funding here and the contractors to build these bridges, period. One reason for the delay are these narrow, switchback roads where she lives. And rebuilding the bridges takes giant tools and trucks that are easier to move around a larger city like Asheville. Whereas this railcar bridge is going to take us around two to three weeks. Chris Warner runs a North Carolina state program that's putting in this new bridge. Funds from the state are covering the construction costs for this and many other bridges. When we first started reporting this story a year ago, that was not the case. They were being told that if there's a bridge that's out on your property, that is your problem. Yeah, that's unfortunately, you know, the way it was, but I'm just very happy that leadership in our state stepped up and came up with a solution to help them out. FEMA does offer money for private bridges, but it's far less than what the state is providing. A year after Helene. We'll get back to normal one of these days. What endures is more than the damage. It's the resolve of a mountain community that refuses to be washed away. For Eye on America, Dave Malkoff in Newland, North Carolina.

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