To the Editor:

This just in! President Trump is recommending everyone in WNC be moved out to somewhere else (maybe Gaza?) until the white horses can come to our rescue and fix this place.

In the months before Hurricane Helene, the Town of Waynesville initiated a comprehensive stormwater master planning process. Now that the project is about at the halfway point, consultants checked in with Town Council to give a progress update on some capital projects that could help mitigate damage during the region’s next extreme weather event. 

Residents of Haywood County will have more information at their fingertips the next time flooding presents a risk, after Haywood County commissioners unanimously approved the purchase of seven new river gauges to monitor area waterways. 

When Hurricane Helene roared through Western North Carolina last fall, the storm ravaged and decimated several small mountain towns. One of the most devastated communities was Marshall (population 777) in the rural landscape of Madison County. 

In a turn of events for the volunteers and members of the public that have been showing up in an effort to preserve Macon County’s floodplain ordinances, the planning board has opposed the third and final recommended change up for consideration. The move comes after months of outspoken opposition to the measure and a two-month delay in addressing the proposed ordinance revision due to canceled meetings.  

With about 280 projects approved across the state, the new year will bring visible on-the-ground progress in the effort to reduce flooding in North Carolina communities.

Mary Garrison and her husband, Fairview Fire Department Battalion Chief Tony Garrison, awoke around 4 a.m. on Sept. 27 to a darkened home with no electricity, torrential rainfall pounding the ground and high winds from Hurricane Helene screaming through their tiny, isolated Craigtown community. 

With North Carolina’s Republican-dominated General Assembly still dead-set on refusing to provide meaningful relief for mountain communities hit hard by Hurricane Helene on Sept. 27, Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper traveled to Washington, D.C., with a delegation of western leaders, appealing to higher authority for help.

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. 

In recognition of the exceptional public service provided by a trio of radio stations during Hurricane Helene — when nearly all other communication infrastructure had failed — the Town of Canton has named them grand marshals for the annual downtown Christmas parade.