Helene victims still waiting for Whatley
Volunteers from Centre County, Pennsylvania, slap a new coat of paint on a building in Chimney Rock on Aug. 21.
Cory Vaillancourt photo
Scenic Chimney Rock has historically been an out-of-the-way place, nestled tightly against the Broad River in a narrow valley between lush, towering peaks that peer down at nearby Lake Lure. It’s always been difficult to get there — especially now, with most roads still closed 11 months after Hurricane Helene — but you’ll know you’re heading in the right direction up Highway 9 by the near-ceaseless stream of dump trucks coming down and out.
Helene inflicted an estimated $60 billion in damage on North Carolina, making it one of the costliest natural disasters in state history; that steady line of trucks is the most visible sign that the region’s recovery is far from over and that the pace of federal funds trickling in has been frustratingly slow.
The man put in charge of recovery by President Donald Trump is a longtime party boss with little disaster management experience who is also running for U.S. Senate.
On Jan. 24 — four months after Helene carved a swath of destruction through Rutherford, Buncombe and Madison counties and four days after Trump was sworn in as the nation’s 47th president — Trump flew into Asheville Regional Airport in Fletcher with a twofold directive.
The first, by executive order, was to establish the Federal Emergency Management Agency Review Council, headed up by Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth. Ostensibly, the purpose of the council was to meet periodically and to issue a report on options for FEMA reform to the president within 180 days of establishment.
The second was to tap Michael Whatley as Western North Carolina’s recovery czar.
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Whatley, a lawyer who served as chair of the North Carolina Republican Party from 2019 to 2024 and then as chair of the Republican National Committee from 2024 to Aug. 22 of this year, declared his candidacy for incumbent Republican Sen. Thom Tillis’ seat on July 31, after Tillis said he wouldn’t run again.
Trump endorsed Whatley before Whatley even announced, calling him “fantastic at everything he does,” which, for a region still in disarray due to storm damage and federal funding hang-ups, seemed to provide a ray of light.
“I want to say that we’re very disappointed in FEMA,”Trump said. Jan. 24. “Your new governor [Josh Stein, who took office Jan. 1], it’s not his fault. He’s brand new to the whole situation. But we’re going to work together with the governor. We’re going to work together with your senators, but really, we’re going to work a lot with your congressmen, especially the three that are in the area, and Michael Whatley. And I’d like to put Michael in charge of making sure everything goes well.”
During a campaign stop in Chimney Rock Aug. 21, former North Carolina governor and Whatley’s likely Democratic opponent Roy Cooper was asked if he indeed thought everything was going “well.”
“Absolutely not. And in fact, [Whatley’s] part of the problem, because Washington, D.C. insiders have made it so much more difficult for people in Western North Carolina to recover, and in fact, people in Western North Carolina have been left holding the bag,” Cooper told The Smoky Mountain news. “We should not be playing political games with disaster recovery.”
Senate candidate and former Gov. Roy Cooper (center) talks to Chimney Rock Mayor Peter O’Leary (left) and Lake Lure Mayor Carol Pritchett (right) on Main Street in Chimney Rock on Aug. 21. Cory Vaillancourt photo
Evidence supporting Cooper’s claim is overwhelming — if not from the buzz of circular saws and smell of wet sawdust enveloping Chimney Rock’s Main Street, then from the amount of aid that’s actually made it to the entities that need it.
At the six-month anniversary of Helene in March, an investigation by SMN found that for local governments impacted by the storm, just 4% of needs had been met, and that most hadn’t yet seen a nickel. Near the nine-month anniversary, the Asheville Citizen-Times reported the figure had climbed to 6%.
Last week, WRAL reported that the federal government, specifically DHS, had been “holding up hundreds of millions of dollars in Hurricane Helene aid for North Carolina, while also running behind schedule on millions more in disaster preparedness grants.”
A DHS press release from Aug. 21 touts $96 million in aid during August alone, bringing the total to more than $320 million in FEMA reimbursements since Jan. 20 — and more than $650 million dating back to the Biden administration — but in the context of $60 billion in documented need, it’s definitely too little and maybe too late for some.
“With FEMA, it’s never worked as well as we wanted it to work,” Cooper said. “North Carolina has had a lot of storms, but now it’s worse than ever. It’s completely broken, and it’s time to put politics aside and start writing the checks so the people of Western North Carolina can recover.”
Whatley’s appointment was supposed to mean accountability. Instead, it has given rise to a question now being asked across the mountains and increasingly in Raleigh and Washington — where’s Whatley?
Since his appointment, Whatley has rarely, if ever, been visible in Helene’s disaster zone. His most substantial activity tied to recovery has been as co-chair of the Final Report Subcommittee of the FEMA Review Council, which records from the Federal Register show has met only twice in seven months, for a total of about three hours.
The first meeting, on May 20 in Washington, D.C., was 100 minutes. The second meeting took place in New Orleans on July 9 and lasted 60 minutes. The next meeting, in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, is scheduled for 75 minutes on Aug. 28. Noem set the tone at the first meeting.
“President Trump has given us the responsibility of looking at an agency that, in the past, has been there in times of crisis for many people on their worst day that they’ve ever experienced, but many times in the past, it has failed,” Noem told members.
A DHS source told SMN that the work taking place behind the scenes — on both the review council and on the backlog of FEMA applications — has been substantial; however, it’s not necessarily something the public would see until the final council report is released, or until the checks are cut.
But for residents, the perception remains clear. Billions have been promised, but little has arrived. Whatley, charged by Trump to ensure things “go well,” has done little to alter the fundamental trajectory of Helene recovery.
“It is amazing to see the dedication and the courage and resilience of the people here, to talk with business people who are opening back up for the first time since the storm, and the sense of hope and optimism that you feel here. I do know that the road to recovery, though, will continue to be long, and there is so much more to do,” Cooper said, as an empty dump truck grumbled down Chimney Rock’s tight Main Street. “People in Washington need to step up. People at FEMA need to step up to help Western North Carolina.”
Michael Whatley did not respond to a request for comment on this story.
