Like much of Haywood County, Waynesville wasn’t affected by Hurricane Helene as badly as many other Western North Carolina communities, but businesses, residents and the town still incurred millions in costly damages that will take time to fix. 

The Town of Canton’s temporary operations hub on Summer Street, home to town hall and the police department since shortly after deadly flooding in 2021, is about to get a little bigger. 

When the Safe Passage coalition started working in 2017 to make Interstate 40 a safer place for people and wildlife through the Pigeon River Gorge, nobody knew that, in a few short years, entire sections of the critical roadway would vanish in the wake of Hurricane Helene.

A trio of high-ranking state and federal agriculture officials is warning that if farmers affected by Hurricane Helene don’t get help soon, next year could be a bleak one for both producers and consumers. 

The USDA Forest Service released its preliminary data on the ecological impacts and infrastructure damage caused by Tropical Storm Helene on the Nantahala and Pisgah National Forests in North Carolina. 

The North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission’s (NCWRC) Armstrong State Fish Hatchery in McDowell County north of Marion sustained significant damage as a result of flooding and landslides during Hurricane Helene.

The Water Quality Advisory Committee has released its latest report detailing potential impacts of revising the Macon County Flood Damage Prevention Ordinance — the last of three such floodplain ordinances the county has considered revising this year.

A coalition of Haywood County community organizations, quasi-governmental institutions, local businesses and private individuals have stepped in where the North Carolina General Assembly wouldn’t — by creating a fund that will make grants to small businesses impacted by Hurricane Helene. 

The Republican-led North Carolina General Assembly took its second step in flood recovery on Oct. 24, designating from the state’s $4.4 billion Rainy Day Fund an additional $604 million in funding and resources for disaster recovery in response to Hurricane Helene — far less than the $3.9 billion the state’s Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper wanted, and with little real help to businesses that can’t afford to take out more loans. 

(Editor’s Note: Amid the chaos of the recent floods from Hurricane Helene, this column wasn’t able to run in the Oct. 2 issue of The Smoky Mountain News due to space issues in the midst of crisis.)

Hello from Room 13 at the Seabirds Motel in Kure Beach, North Carolina. Saturday morning.