Nine months after Hurricane Helene tore through the Southeast, the recovery process is just beginning. As communities rebuild their lives and towns, the Carolina Journal revisits some of the state’s hardest-hit areas to assess what recovery looks like, what’s still missing, and how far there is to go.
Asheville is likely the city most known for devastation and destruction incurred by Hurricane Helene, as it is one of the largest municipalities in the western part of the state. While much has been accomplished since Helene struck, much remains to be completed.
“We’ve come a long way in the sense that a lot of the vital services have been restored — water, power, and the road rebuilding,” Esther Manheimer, mayor of Asheville, told the Carolina Journal. “We had a lot of traffic jams all over town because so many roads were still closed. There’s still a lot of road work that needs to be done in western North Carolina. But in terms of Asheville’s functioning roads, we’ve made great progress. Now we’re kind of into the period of the longer-term recovery rebuilding.”…