Mary Lynn Manns’ two-bedroom home sits on a tranquil patch of land near the Swannanoa River.
When she moved in a decade ago, she expected to live the rest of her life in the house. Then, Hurricane Helene caused the river to swell nearly 30 feet high, flooding the foundation. Since then, Manns, along with many of her peers in East Asheville’s River Knolls neighborhood, have been unable to return to their homes.
“The foundations are in bad shape,” Manns said. “You can’t just put up a house. And plus, we’ve had the discussion, should we do this? We’re clearly now in a floodplain. Would it be right to rebuild that house? The idea of rebuilding in an area that’s clearly a problem just doesn’t seem like the proper ethical thing to do.”…