Residents of western North Carolina are reflecting today on the progress that’s been made and the challenges that remain, six-months after Hurricane Helene brought torrential rains, flooding, landslides, and unimaginable destruction to the region. The unprecedented storm caused an estimated $60 billion in damage and left thousands of homes and businesses in need of repair or a complete rebuild.
This week to mark the “anniversary,” NC Newsline spoke with state Rep. Lindsey Prather (D-Buncombe) who, like many others, has worked tirelessly since September to make sure the region she represents is not forgotten.
The drinking water has been restored. Major roadways have reopened. Cell phone service and internet access are once again widely available. But progress looks very different from locale to locale across the region.
Rep. Lindsey Prather (Photo: NCGA)“Some places, you can see a big difference. A lot of the debris has been removed, places are back open, parking lots are open, people are shopping. And then in other places, there’s still, feet-high boulders and there’s still some, you know, a few roads that are closed. I-40 still isn’t fully open at the Tennessee line. So, it really does look a lot different in a lot of places,” Prather said.
One bright spot that came out of the tragedy is the way that the community came together, according to Prather.
“We haven’t lost that. There have been community groups popping up like every week, mutual aid organizations popping up every week and those long-term efforts are really taking place, and it gives me a lot of hope for the next couple of years as we continue to recover.”
Prather said North Carolina expects about $15 billion in recovery funds to come from the federal government. And with the most recent relief bill from Raleigh, the state has spent nearly $1.5 billion.
“We know that we’re going to have to get more from the federal government and we’re also going to have to get more from the state government as well. We have a rainy-day fund at the state level and we’re going to have to start tapping into that because this was a very rainy day.”
Housing remains a chief concern. More than 3,900 households are receiving rental assistance according to the state Department of Public Safety. More than $28.7 million has been paid in disaster unemployment assistance.
There is an urgency to restore both stable housing and the employment picture.
House Bill 47 — the most recent relief bill that Gov. Josh Stein signed into law last week — failed to include small business grants, which industry leaders and business owners have pleaded for.
Veteran western North Carolina journalist Sara Murphy recently chronicled that many child care centers remain closed with young children reeling from the disruption.
Murphy shared with Newsline that until the childcare outlook improves, many parents are going to have difficulty returning to work themselves.
“It’s one thing to promise money, and it’s another to actually facilitate and expedite that delivery. And that’s the key here, because every day you wait, that’s another family who maybe decide they can’t stay another day in this region,” said Murphy.
“The motto of Buncombe County is ‘People to Match Our Mountains.’ The beauty and strength of this region is our community. We don’t want to lose people because of funding that is promised but hasn’t been delivered on time,” she said.
So even as a sense of normalcy can be felt with Helene in the rearview mirror, Prather understands her resilient community will be in recovery mode for years to come.
“As a legislator, I’m really trying to send the message down in Raleigh that the recovery funds for direct disaster relief are incredibly important, and we’ve got to get that stuff done and out on the ground. But we cannot let that overshadow the other long-term issues that we have been and will continue to face like child care, like housing, like women’s health resources in rural areas. We’ve got to make sure that we’re walking and chewing gum at the same time.”
Click below to view some recent images of Asheville’s River Arts District, which was among one of the hard hit areas.
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