One year after Hurricane Helene unleashed historic destruction in western North Carolina, the long process of recovery goes on day by day.

North Carolina

A year after Hurricane Helene struck North Carolina, recovery efforts are ongoing in affected communities. Residents describe a landscape still marked by empty lots where buildings once stood and areas that have changed little since the storm. While some progress has been made through donations and government grants, many people are still waiting for assistance and face uncertainty about the future. Despite these challenges, there is a sense of resilience and hope among locals, who remain committed to rebuilding their towns and supporting one another.

Recovery continues a year after Helene devastated North Carolina

Every day is a lot of dump trucks, a lot of equipment. It was very quiet and dark for a while though, so sometimes the activity is good. I sat on the river Saturday and got a little emotional, you know, just, yeah, it's been a year, but it was a flash to me anyway. I put these rocks here so that my whole building doesn't fall into the river. I firmly believe five years down the road, Chimney Rock will be so magnificent, it'll be the primo place to come for vacation. It's going to take a little while to get there, and the river's going to take a little while, but through donations and government grants, this town is going to be fabulous again, without a doubt. People have never been through disasters like this, hurricanes in particular. Everybody tells you it's going to take a long time. People don't actually know what that means. They think, oh, you mean like a month, two months, or something. But I will tell you that the people who live here, they weren't just born yesterday. They've been through hard things before, and so they've been patient, and they've been thankful, and they've been as supportive and understanding as you can be in a disaster like this, and they just know we'll get through that. There has been a lot done. There has been a lot that has not changed very much since the storm. You see a lot of places where entire buildings, instead of standing half-gutted by the floodwaters, they're actually raised, and it's just an empty lot now. Some of those places, those were community neighborhood standbys and important places for people to gather. And there's still other places where you look and it doesn't look very much different than it did last October. You know, we've got a long way to go, and the thing that's always been one of the hardest parts of it is the uncertainty of what's going to happen, when is it going to happen, is it going to happen. The struggle continues, you know, and we knew from the outset this was going to be a marathon. Seeing one family back home, we hope that it's the hope that people need, that people haven't received the help that they need, and give hope to them, because we are coming for them next. Like, one family can take us closer to the Big Golden is make everybody in Western North Carolina have a place to call home again.

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