HURRICANE HELENE. ONE YEAR LATER. WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 2025 | A5
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HURRICANE HELENE. ONE YEAR LATER.
Avery County remembers the fury of Helene without hesitation. Neighbors checked on neighbors. Farmers, loggers and construction crews brought It has been a year since Hurrichainsaws and heavy machinery cane Helene tore through Avery to begin clearing roads. Men and County, forever marking Sept. women took to the back roads and 27, 2024, as one of the darkest ridgelines, opening paths not just days in the county’s history. The for themselves but for first respondmemories remain vivid: the anxers who needed to reach stranded ious forecasts, the rising rain, the families. terrifying hours without power, Schools became lifelines, with staff and the sobering aftermath of going door-to-door to check on loss, destruction, and resilience. students and their families. ComThe story of Avery County’s munities opened makeshift shelencounter with Helene is one of ters, preparing hot meals and delivtragedy, survival, and community ering them to those who could not PHOTO BY CHRISTIAN GARDNER travel. With roads impassable, citistrength, woven together by both Flood waters rise into the roadway, carrying boulders and debris. the fury of nature and the courzens used side-by-sides, four-wheelage of the counties people. ers, dirt bikes, and even horseback to In the days before Helene deliver food, water, generators, and arrived, meteorologists across the medications. These were not acts of Southeast were already soundheroism for recognition, they were ing alarms. The storm, forming acts of survival, and they became in the Atlantic, rapidly intensithe rhythm of life in Avery County fied and made landfall in Florida during those first terrible days. as a Category 4 hurricane late on At the 48-hour mark, commuThursday, Sept. 26. News channication slowly returned. Air supnels showed satellite loops of the port arrived, with National Guard massive storm churning its way helicopters delivering food, water inland, cautioning that although and medical supplies. But offiits winds would weaken, its rain cial aid was not alone. Private citiwould not. The High Country zens with contacts in aviation began was in its direct path, with preorganizing their own relief flights. dictions of catastrophic floodSmall helicopters and airplanes ing, landslides and damage to from outside the region landed on infrastructure. These forecasts makeshift strips, bringing donaweighed heavily on officials in tions of essentials. The outpourAvery County, who had watched ing grew as the world finally saw PHOTO BY CHRISTIAN GARDNER how bad things were. News crews, with growing concern as the Minneapolis was left in shambles after Helene struck the area. storm spun closer. finally able to reach the mountains, Local preparations began reported on the scale of devastaalmost immediately. The Avery rivers overflowed, and the winds grim task of assessing damage. tion. The response was immediCommunity Building in Newhowled through ridges and Crews left the EOC to survey ate: donations poured in, and volunland was designated as the coun- valleys. what they could reach. It was teer groups across the country began ty’s Emergency Operations Flooding began quickly. Within immediately clear that this was mobilizing. Center, known as the EOC, hours, roads that had stood for unlike anything the county had Organizations such as Samariwhich consisted of fire departdecades were under water. In faced in living memory. Entire tan’s Purse arrived to help shovel ments, EMS units, law enforcelow-lying areas, homes near stretches of road had disappeared. mud from flooded homes, while ment, and county officials that set rivers were lifted off their founPower lines dangled or were gone local volunteers worked side by side up a hub of operations, creating dations, carried downstream as altogether. Homes and businesses with them. Church groups, nonsatellite stations to manage com- if they were toys. Bridges crumwere gutted or destroyed. Most profits, and individuals from outside munications and deploy respond- bled under the pressure of raging sobering of all, lives had been the region traveled to Avery County ers. The decision proved crucial; water, isolating entire commulost, and more were missing. to clear debris, rebuild structures, no single agency could face what nities. Then the power went out. Help was called in, though get- and offer whatever assistance they was coming alone. Across Avery County and much ting word out required extraorcould. For every bridge washed Yet even before Helene arrived, of the surrounding High Coundinary effort. National Guard away, dozens of human bridges Avery County was already water- try, the lights blinked off and units were mobilized. A speformed, people linking hands, tools, logged as several days of steady did not come back on for weeks. cialized incident management and hearts to rebuild what could be rain had saturated the ground, Internet service disappeared. Cel- team from Pennsylvania was dis- salvaged. weakening slopes and raislular towers failed. Radios went patched, bringing the PennsylvaWith power out and floodwaing river levels. The National silent. For days, residents were nia Incident Management Team ters cutting off highways, every Weather Service later reported plunged into a massive blackout, and the Pennsylvania Helicopter grocery store in Avery County that in the three-day span surwith no way to call for help, no Aquatic Rescue Team, known as was forced to shut its doors, leavrounding the storm, parts of way to check on loved ones, no PA-HART. They brought exper- ing no access to food or neceswestern North Carolina recorded way even to know the scope of tise in swiftwater and aerial ressities through normal means. more than 30 inches of rainwhat was happening. cues, skills desperately needed in Refrigerated goods spoiled fall. Avery County alone received The storm’s fury brought not a county where rising rivers had quickly, shelves went dark, and upward of 31 inches, a staggerjust water but earth. Mudslides cut off dozens of families. supply trucks could not get in. ing total that turned streams into ripped down mountainsides, topBut alongside the official response, This made the deliveries and raging rivers and mountainsides pling trees, tearing through roads, rumors began to swirl. In the condonations from neighbors, into sliding walls of mud. and crushing homes. Entire fusion of no communication, mischurches, and outside groups On the night of Sept. 26, the structures slid with the mud, information spread rapidly. Stoabsolutely vital. Without those winds began to strengthen. leaving little trace of where fam- ries of mobile morgues being stameals cooked in community Many residents stayed glued to ilies had lived. As rivers swelled, tioned in Avery County circulated, kitchens, the generators hauled in weather reports while others qui- so too did the human toll. Just as stoking panic. County officials, on trailers, or the cases of water etly braced their homes, secured houses and bridges were washed already grappling with the logistics brought up winding mountain livestock, or checked on neighaway, so were people, swept of rescue and recovery, found them- roads, many families would not bors. By midnight, rain pelted downstream before they could selves also needing to quell rumors, have had the essentials to make it harder and gusts shook the escape. The silence compounded provide clarity, and keep citizens through those first days. trees. But it was in the early the horror; with communications calm amid chaos. In the same tune, to add insult hours of Sept. 27 that the true severed, most residents had no What happened next, however, to injury, October brought with storm arrived. Helene, weakidea how widespread the devasta- showed the true character of the it an early chill and the first ened from a hurricane to a troption was. They sheltered in place, High Country. Within 24 hours of snow of the season, making heat ical storm, had made its way into unaware that their neighbors, the storm’s passage, Avery Counsources that were donated a the High Country. Its classificaperhaps only a holler away, were ty’s citizens took action. Emergency lifeline. tion had changed, but its destruc- enduring the same nightmare. personnel worked around the clock, Still, the damage was beyond tive power had not. In Avery When the rain finally eased, but they were far from alone. Ordi- comprehension. Every corner County, rain fell in torrents, Avery County officials began the nary residents jumped into action of Avery County bore scars. No CHRISTIAN GARDNER
christian.gardner@averyjournal.com
HURRICANE HELENE. ONE YEAR LATER.
community was untouched. Some losses were physical, but others were personal and devastating. Six Avery County residents lost their lives: Billy Joe Calloway, David Allen Carver, Melissa Sue Quinn, Robert “Butch” Ross, Cherlene Wilbur, and Russell Dale Wilbur. One, Kimberly Ashby, remains missing. The tragedy brought national attention. Government leaders who rarely ventured into the High Country made their way to Avery County to see the destruction firsthand. National news outlets broadcast the images of washed-out roads and destroyed homes. Celebrities lent their voices, with country music stars Luke Combs and Eric Church organizing the “Concert for the Carolinas,” raising funds for recovery. That event sparked others, including “Music for the Mountains,” which continued to channel resources into the region. The eyes of the nation turned, if briefly, to Avery County. But recovery has not been swift. A year later, many families are still rebuilding homes and businesses. Bridges remain under repair. Some residents remain displaced. To provide ongoing support, groups like the Avery County Long Term Recovery Group were formed, bringing together local nonprofits such as Volunteer Avery and Feeding Avery Families. These organizations continue to work tirelessly, coordinating aid, managing donations, and helping those who remain in crisis long after national headlines have moved on. This week, as the county marks the first anniversary of Hurricane Helene, memorials and community events are being held to honor those lost and to reflect on the journey since. It is a moment of mourning but also of remembrance, not just of tragedy, but of resilience. Helene was a storm that exposed vulnerabilities. It revealed how quickly communications can fail, how fragile infrastructure can be, and how swiftly nature can upend lives. But it also revealed something more profound: the unwavering strength of community. In those days without light, when the county was cut off from the world, Avery’s people did not wait to be saved. They became the saviors of one another. Neighbors risked everything for neighbors. Strangers shared what little they had. Ordinary people performed extraordinary acts. The scars of Helene remain. They are in the broken roads still under repair, in the homes not yet rebuilt, in the grief of families who lost loved ones. But they are also in the memory of how a county stood together in the face of devastation. One year later, Avery County is still recovering. Yet it is also standing taller, shaped not only by loss but by the profound reminder that in its darkest hour, it found its greatest strength.
One year after Hurricane Helene, road and bridge repairs continue Zach Colburn
Many roads and bridges in the High Country were severely damaged or destroyed when Hurricane Helene swept through Western North Carolina. The storm damaged nearly 9,400 sites, resulting in the closure of 1,400 state-maintained roads and damaged 818 state-maintained bridges. Even a year later, several primary and secondary roads are still not fully operational across Western North Carolina despite substantial progress made, according to the North Carolina Department of Transportation. The trio of Watauga, Ashe and Avery counties are a part of Division
PHOTO COURTESY NCDOT
North Carolina Department of Transportation contract crews started work last month on a replacement bridge on Elk River Road in Avery County. Hurricane Helene washed out the previous bridge over the river, which was less than a mile from the parking area for Elk River Falls. DOT urges visitors to the falls to use caution in the work zone and watch for other cars while navigating the temporary bridge. NCDOT officials expect crews will finish work on the permanent bridge in 2026. NCDOT bridge replacement project under way on Elk River Road
11, which also includes Alleghany, Caldwell,
Surry, Wilkes and Yadkin counties.
“Responding to Hurricane Helene has been our top priority since it ripped through Western North Carolina last year,” the NCDOT said in a statement. “From day one, our crews put aside their own problems to reconnect communities and restore access to local economies as quickly as possible.” According to data from the NCDOT, a total of 318 road closures were initially reported across Division 11 following the hurricane. Of those closures, all but six have reopened, and the remaining closures — which have detours — are due to washed out bridges. Those six are: Dale Adams Road due to bridge #940095 being washed out (Watauga)
Circle Drive West due to bridge 940280 being washed out (Watauga) Hopewell Church Road due to damage to bridge #940187 (Watauga) Castle Ford Road near the intersection of River Road due to bridge #940089 being washed out (Watauga) Big Windfall Road at mile marker 0.2 due to slope failure worsening (Ashe) Willie Brown Road just east of the Smithey Road intersection due to bridge #040121 being washed out (Ashe) Thirty-nine bridges were destroyed by Helene in Division 11, but as of Sept. 19, 15 have been replaced, and construction and design work continue on
the remaining bridges. The NCDOT was awarded an emergency express design-build contract to Blythe Development LLC earlier this year to replace box culverts on N.C. 105 and N.C. 184. They expect construction to begin on the N.C. 105 culvert this fall, while construction on the N.C. 184 culvert should begin next year. “A year after the storm, we remain inspired by the strength of the community to withstand and overcome Helene,” the NCDOT said in a statement. “Our response to this storm could not have been this successful without support from our families, See REPAIRS, A6