Asheville 1 month after Helene faces a long recovery

SOUTH ASHEVILLE, NC – One month later Hurricane Helene has caused extensive damage on this corner of western North Carolina, debris is everywhere.

Shade trees are cut into pieces and litter the lawn, while ruined floors and drywall pile up along roadways.

Bridges are cut in half, while houses, vehicles and appliances are scattered, glued to riverbanks or resting in unexpected places. The remains of a camper, several feet above the ground, are wedged into the railing of a city playground. A dirty blue sedan sits almost upright, parked on a wooden fence.

If you spend any time on social media, new images or videos will appear every few days with new stories of destruction.

Since September 27, groups and individuals have done the same worked tirelessly to ensure people get what they need, from food to gloves and generators.

It is a community driven to rebuild while honoring the dozens of mountain residents who died in floods or landslides.

But the recovery will be a huge undertaking, and while there is a current of positive energy flowing through the region, it’s hard not to be exhausted by living here.

Workers have lost their wages and small business owners have lost their dreams. Some restaurants and retailers can open, but with shorter opening hours and less selection.

Children have missed as much as a month of school. The area’s largest district returned to the classroom Friday.

Tourism, a crucial source of income for the region, especially in October, is under pressure.

In Helene’s immediate aftermath, officials were quick to ask visitors to reconsider the fall break. Now many towns in western North Carolina are calling for day trippers and leaf-peepers to return. Individual Asheville businesses promote their hours and encourage customers.

Behind a fence, the entrance to the legendary Biltmore Estate looks like it’s newly under construction, with fewer trees and a view of where a building once stood. It’s a dusty place, as there hasn’t been any rain since Helene and the preceding storm dropped over four inches.

Asheville’s decimated water system is slowly coming back online. Most people have water, but it may be brown and only suitable for flushing. Shower carts are set up around the city. Every store has towers full of bottled water, because you can’t safely use tap water without boiling it first.

Cycling and walking paths reopen, providing fresh air and a chance to exhale. But with the Blue Ridge Parkway closed for the foreseeable future, many favorite mountains and views remain inaccessible.

The scale and costs of recovery are enormous.

The state budget office has estimated Helene’s damage and recovery needs at $53 billion. The General Meeting is on Friday a second round was approved in emergency response funding, totaling $604 million, which is in addition to initial expenditures of $253 million. Governor Roy Cooper (D) had requested $3.9 billion, which he called “a down payment on the future of western North Carolina.”

The state Department of Transportation has identified more than 7,000 locations of road damage, including 654 bridges. At least 100 of those bridges will need to be replaced, at a cost of at least $1 million each, a study says report in the Assembly.

The blow to tourism amounts to a potential “economic maelstrom,” said Elizabeth Button, president of Asheville Independent Restaurants (AIR), the This was reported by the Asheville Citizen Times.

In 2023, Asheville generated $2.97 billion from tourism, according to Explore Asheville and the Buncombe County Tourism Development Authority. It accounts for 20 percent of the province’s gross domestic product.

Based on that figure, AIR has called for state and federal economic support to protect the industry, which employs nearly 15,000 people.

As leaders and residents discuss how to move forward, the conversations focused on answers to the tough question: What can we learn from this and how can we reset? Will areas that were never expected to flood but are now rubble be redeveloped? In a city already strapped for affordable housing, that discussion will have to be thoughtful and critical.

Asheville leaders have been talking for years about the need to overhaul the city’s aging water system. This event has brought that discussion to the forefront and the repairs will be pricey.

The recovery efforts already look different at the start of month two after Helene.

Buncombe County has received so many donations – from water to food to clothing – that’s it donors requested to switch to financial support.

Much of the cleanup and rebuilding will now require professional expertise rather than the efforts of neighbors and volunteers.

For most, the tragedies of Asheville, Lake Lure, Burnsville, Spruce Pine, Marshall, Hot Springs, Green Mountain and many more towns and screamers will be in the rearview mirror long before – years before – life returns to normal.

But as the overwhelming outside response to Helene continues, it is imperative for the future of western North Carolina that its needs are not forgotten.

Katie Wadington is The Hill’s deputy editor. She has lived in the Asheville area since 2005 and worked as a staffer at the Asheville Citizen Times for fifteen years.

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