One year after Helene: Asheville recovers, with scars but resilience

ASHEVILLE, N.C. — One year after Hurricane Helene, it is hard to come up with a simple answer when asked, “How’s Asheville?”

There is recovery, with some infrastructure rebuilt, businesses open and many trails cleared.  

But there are scars, with sunshine where shade used to be, wider creeks and patches of empty ground where last year someone’s home or livelihood stood.

While it is hard to not think about who or what is missing, there is a sense of community, forged by survival and a genuine desire to help one another.

On Sept. 27, 2024, the town of Black Mountain, just east of Asheville, was cut off completely by swollen waterways.

John Coffey, the fire chief of Black Mountain, told a Helene anniversary event this week that even though he'd felt he had prepared for the storm, “We weren’t expecting this.”  

Most in western North Carolina would say the same. 

In its drenching march north from Florida, the storm killed at least 250 people, the most in the U.S. since 2005’s Katrina. In North Carolina, 108 people died, with 43 of those in Asheville’s Buncombe County.

Wind and rain caused catastrophic damage — $78.7 billion worth across several states, with nearly $60 billion of the total in the Tar Heel State, according to the National Hurricane Center’s report on the Category 4 storm. 

In Buncombe County alone, more than 300 homes were destroyed, more than 800 sustained major damage and nearly 9,000 required repairs to make them habitable, the Asheville Citizen Times reported this week. 

Most Asheville water system customers were without drinkable tap water for about 53 days, caused by massive damage to the main reservoir. 

Just days before it started raining, western North Carolina was abuzz. Tourists were starting to fill hotels and rentals and businesses as the fall leaf season started.  

Helene brought the economy of a region that depends on tourism to a screeching halt. 

And recovery is slow, given the unfathomable scale of destruction and bureaucratic red tape. 

A portion of Interstate 40 toward the Tennessee state line was eaten away by the Pigeon River. It wouldn’t reopen until March and won’t be fully repaired until 2028. The Trump administration just released $1.15 billion toward its restoration. 

Look on Google Earth, and you’ll find satellite images of dozens of landslides. One in Yancey County is reportedly as wide as a football field and visible from miles away in the air. Over 2,000 landslides caused by Helene killed 23 people, and in Buncombe County, 145 landslides damaged 245 homes, Blue Ridge Public Radio reported this week.

Along 200 miles of the Blue Ridge Parkway, a unit of the National Park Service, repair costs from landslides and other damage could reach $2 billion. A beloved section north of Asheville reopened just two weeks ago. 

Many Asheville hospitality industry workers left town to find work. Restaurants and breweries and hotels reopened when running water returned, but with reduced staffing. Many wouldn’t be up to full speed for weeks or months. Yet others wouldn't reopen at all, with some citing Helene as a main factor or just the last straw. 

Biltmore Estate, a major draw for visitors, reopened its gates a mere 36 days after Helene, in time for its huge holiday season. Its visitation remains about 25 percent lower than usual this year, the Citizen Times reported. 

In July, Explore Asheville reported that revenues for tourism businesses are 20 percent to 40 percent down from summer 2024. But downtown Asheville visitation showed welcome signs of a rebound last month. 

In western North Carolina, everyone has a Helene story, and it usually involves a “when” or a “how”: When did they see the water rising. How did they escape their rapidly flooding home. When did the trees start falling. When did help arrive. How did their neighbor or loved one not survive. 

Now, those aren’t told as often.  

The focus has shifted to sharing stories of resilience. And in a region of doers, where people will help their neighbors before they’ll help themselves, there are many bright spots. 

BeLoved Asheville became a force in the community’s rebuilding. Recently, it completed its 100th home and finished clearing the 500 tons in a “mountain of debris” from a major thoroughfare in Swannanoa, east of Asheville. 

Just Thursday, in the recovering River Arts District, there was reason to celebrate as Marquee, a gallery that hosts hundreds of Asheville artists, reopened.

An ambitious project aims to gather the stories of those who lived through Helene: Come Hell or High Water is a community effort to record the history of Sept. 27 and its aftermath. 

After a year, state and local leaders are balancing gratitude and frustration over federal help in recovery. 

In December, Congress allocated $9 billion for disaster assistance.  

North Carolina Gov. Josh Stein (D) this month said much of that funding hasn’t yet been received. He said he would ask Washington for $13.5 billion more.  

“Just like folks in the gulf states, the mid-Atlantic, and Puerto Rico, the people of western North Carolina deserve federal support after a major hurricane, and the time to act is now,” he said in a press release on Sept. 15. 

In Fletcher, a town south of Asheville, Mayor Preston Blakely told Cardinal & Pine that federal funding has arrived but much more is needed as the work is just scratching the surface. 

“There’s so much red tape, there’s so many things we have to do to get the money down here. I would really like to see some kind of reform of FEMA, because we can’t continue to wait for this money,” he said.