Zeb Smathers checks activity in the Gulf of Mexico whenever he looks at the weather in Western North Carolina. He began this practice after Tropical Storm Fred inundated Canton in August 2021. In September 2024, he saw something concerning. A storm was developing that would soon become known as Hurricane Helene.
In the months before Helene reached Western North Carolina, the region was in a drought. Prayers for rain were answered the week before it hit land as upward of 8 inches fell, saturating the soil and swelling creeks. What many didn’t consider but now know is that the mountains were primed for catastrophe.
Smathers, Canton’s mayor, considered the worst-case scenario. Before Helene was even named, he prepared for what such a storm could do to a town that had already been through so much. He coordinated with leaders at all levels of government. Emergency responders were put on alert, and businesses near the Pigeon River were encouraged to move inventory and equipment.
“The lesson learned in 2021 is that we can’t take chances anymore,” Smathers said.
One of Smathers’ first calls was to Haywood County Manager Bryant Morehead, who at the time was in Pittsburgh for the International City and County Managers Association (ICMA) Conference. Morehead, Smathers, and others were receiving briefings from the National Weather Service station in Greenville, South Carolina. With each briefing, the picture became clearer, and meteorologists began using words like “unprecedented.”
“One of the folks from the Weather Service said, ‘You are going to have hundreds of landslides,’” Morehead recalled. There would be over 2,000 in Western North Carolina.
What happened during Fred informed the Helene response in Haywood, even if that recovery effort was still ongoing. Two days before Helene hit, crews were working removing debris from Fred in and along the East Fork of the Pigeon River. During that storm, the world was gripped by COVID’s Delta Variant, so congregant sheltering was prohibited. Displaced households were put up at Lake Junaluska, which was expensive and logistically challenging. Ahead of Helene, the Waynesville Armory was open and available, which eased some anxiety for county leaders. In conjunction with emergency response leaders, Morehead worked to get emergency response resources in the right spots.
While knowing what lay ahead provided advantages, it also created a feeling of dread. The ICMA conference Morehead attended offered sessions on mental health with a focus on personal resilience amid overwhelming challenges.
“I was like, I hope that stuff works,” Morehead said with an uneasy laugh.
Helene made landfall about 50 miles southeast of Tallahassee at 11:10 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 26, 2024. By the time it moved north into The Carolinas, it’d been downgraded to a Tropical Storm. Rivers and creeks in Western North Carolina began slipping their banks around dawn on Friday, Sept. 27. Conventional wisdom is that mountains shelter communities from the worst a hurricane can bring. However, heavy rains hitting soggy earth were channeled into the valleys with ferocious velocity. The sheer hydraulic force of the flash floods brought a new kind of devastation, something unseen during coastal storms.
Over 100 lives were lost in North Carolina, and the years-long recovery process is estimated to cost almost $60 billion, over triple Hurricane Florence, which in 2018 ravaged the coast and set the previous record of $17 billion in damages. While estimates vary, early Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) figures said in North Carolina 73,000 homes were lost and 9,000 road sites were damaged. To date, over 16.6 million cubic yards of debris have been removed.
Two years later, the recovery continues. While Smathers doesn’t like looking back at the harrowing experience, he must. If experience has taught him anything, it’s that the time will come that he will be glad to have learned the hard lessons.
“The thing that weighs on me is, when the next storm hits, will we have done everything we could to prepare?” Smathers pondered. “Because that’s the question we’re going to have to answer.”
The ongoing recovery
Long-term recovery efforts began not long after Helene’s floodwaters receded. On Oct. 9, North Carolina’s General Assembly unanimously passed $273 million storm relief package that then-Gov. Roy Cooper signed the following day. The act also loosened regulations that could prove cumbersome in those early, uncertain days and extended Cooper’s state of emergency through March 1, 2025.
In an interview with The Smoky Mountain News, Democratic Gov. Josh Stein recalled visiting Western North Carolina as Attorney General in October 2024 as he hit the homestretch of his gubernatorial campaign. The Attorney General’s office is concerned with guarding consumers against scams and price gouging in the wake of a disaster. The scenes were bleak, but he was motivated by the resilience on display. People were already mucking out homes and businesses and removing drywall below the water line, putting in the hard work to get their lives on track.
“I took that inspiration to get as prepared as I could for when I became governor in early January, to immediately try to accelerate the recovery however I could,” Stein said.
On Jan. 2, 2025, as cold temperatures gripped the mountains, upon being sworn in, Stein signed five executive orders meant to meet immediate needs by restoring critical infrastructure to create a foundation on which a larger recovery effort could be built.
“Our objective was to try to act with as much urgency as we possibly could to get people in homes as quickly as we could,” Stein said. “[We wanted] to try to restore access to properties through private roads and bridges to help local governments get their water and sewer operational, even if it was with duct tape and baling wire at first.”
The state has provided $3.1 billion for the recovery, over six times what it allocated in the wake of Florence. This includes $700 million from the state budget passed July 1. While Stein wasn’t enthusiastic about everything in the budget he ultimately signed, he praised the Helene relief.
To date, $645 million has been awarded by the state to rehabilitate 530 waterway sites through the Emergency Watershed Protection (EWP) Program. Also, 232 streamflow rehabilitation assistance program sites have been approved at a total of $34 million.
The federal government has allocated $9.8 billion, with over $2.8 billion coming from the Federal Highway Administration Emergency Relief Program alone. Much of that money has gone toward restoring a section of I-40 through Haywood County near the Tennessee line that in some areas washed away entirely. That project is expected to cost a total of $2.8 billion, making it by far the most expensive NCDOT project ever.
State and local leaders have made several trips to Washington, D.C., to ask for more federal relief money. The Stafford Act requires that the federal government cover a minimum of 75% of eligible costs for major disasters. As of now, the feds have covered about 16.3%. During Stein’s many trips to the nation’s capital, he has pleaded for the money Western North Carolina needs and deserves. In June, he and Sen. Kevin Corbin (R-Macon) traveled to the capital. Ahead of that trip, he lowered his ask from $13.48 billion to $10.17 billion. He attributes the reduction to more precise accounting of dollars spent and dollars available, as well as a better understanding of conditions on the ground.
The $9.8 billion allocated from the federal government and $3.1 billion from the state, in addition to $6.4 billion from insurance and private funds, makes up less than a third of the total estimated cost from Helene’s devastation. From the beginning, local governments have had to shoulder the burden to complete necessary projects and then wait for reimbursement.
Morehead spent much of his career prior to working in Haywood in Gaston County’s finance department, making him uniquely equipped to handle the budgetary challenges. He credited having competent people around him who’ve gained plenty of relevant experience for executing what many have considered to be the most effective short-term and long-term recovery. Along with Tropical Storm Fred, many on the staff weathered the COVID pandemic and the 2023 closure of Canton’s paper mill. Some were even working during the 2004 flooding caused by Hurricanes Frances and Ivan. The team has been seasoned by the unimaginable.
“Those things, including Fred, felt like a dress rehearsal for Helene,” Morehead said.
For families whose homes were damaged or destroyed by a storm, the most important relief comes in the form of FEMA property buyouts. Following Fred, 27 houses were part of that program, which just finished its work a few months ago. Following Helene, the county has 89 parcels in mitigation. Things are moving “much quicker” for the 89 total parcels in mitigation from Helene, he said. Morehead attributes that speedier result to the county hiring a full-time recovery and resilience officer coupled with a “greater sense of urgency” from the federal government due to the widespread devastation wrought by Helene. The county also has an employee whose sole focus is writing grant applications.
Still, a relative lack of revenue has plagued Haywood. Property tax revaluations were scheduled for implementation in 2025, but that was delayed until 2027. Current values are based on data collected between 2019 and 2020. That lower valuation, coupled with $190 million loss in value from the shuttered paper mill, compounded the fiscal hardship created by the storm. Despite the challenge, Morehead feels the delay was the right decision.
There have been other hurdles.
An issue with rebuilding housing stock is that the Federal Housing and Urban Development guidelines aren’t conducive to rapid development in rural areas. Morehead said there have been some affordable housing projects that didn’t come to fruition because of those tight regulations.
“There needs to be something to help communities recover in a fashion that they need it, instead of trying to mold what they need into this program,” Morehead said.
Another example of unnecessary bureaucracy involves the federal EWP Program. That program requires plans for debris removal to be stamped by an engineer. That review requires additional time and money. In the mountains where snags in creeks need to be cleared, snags that could worsen future flooding. Clearing debris in those situations shouldn’t require that degree of oversight, Morehead said, adding that the issue hasn’t been as cumbersome in the aftermath of Helene.
“We really didn’t need engineers in Fred, but everything required it,” Morehead said. “The state now understands the difference, and Helene EWP doesn’t have those same engineering requirements, so we’ll be able to knock it out cheaper.”
Sen. Corbin said one of the main jobs of state government officials now is to keep FEMA money in the “pipeline” for property buyouts and home repairs since the flow of approved applications remains steady. Many awaiting such imbursements are stuck doling out money for a mortgage on an uninhabitable property while also paying to live somewhere else. Right now, more money has been requested than is available. In addition, across the region, over 1,100 homes have been repaired, rebuilt, or weatherized by nonprofit and volunteer organizations using state funds, but over double that amount are waiting in the queue.
“We need to make sure that that we’re able to keep money in the pipeline for that,” Corbin said.
Infrastructure resilience is a key component of getting ahead of the next storm. A mostly state-funded project will connect the water systems of Canton, Clyde, and Waynesville. Loss of potable water wreaked havoc across the region following Helene, especially in Asheville, where some neighborhoods went almost three weeks without water, and many areas were required to boil water for almost two months. If the next storm renders water in one municipality undrinkable, it may be that the other water system can supply those residents.
Leaders have also considered developing a more resilient housing stock, from using stronger building materials to preventing construction in flood-prone areas. County and municipal governments have purchased many such properties, with some being turned into parks that can impound floodwaters.
“That’s how we get better; just keeping people out of harm’s way the best you can,” Morehead said.
The FEMA problem
There has been $2.48 billion in FEMA public assistance obligated across 2,942 Helene-related projects. The agency has provided $568 million in individual assistance, compensating over 160,000 households. However, reimbursements to local governments for work already completed is still slow-going, according to The Asheville Citizen Times. Even though Morehead feels like Haywood County is in a stable situation, reimbursements make a tremendous difference.
“We got paid in late May or early June on $10 million,” Morehead said. “A penny on the tax rate brings in about a million bucks. That’s a lot of money when you start thinking about the impact here on Main Street.”
FEMA falls under the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Under former DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, the agency fell under scrutiny for its large backlog of pending approvals. The main culprit creating that backlog was Noem’s infamous policy that required her personal approval of any expenditure over $100,000, a policy that hindered not only FEMA contracts but also Trump’s immigration agenda and even national security items. According to WRAL, in July of last year, Stein wrote to Noem asking why she wasn’t approving $281 million in Helene recovery.
“Applications submitted as far back as February 2025 remain without a final decision,” the governor wrote. “Further delay of these funds keeps communities and families in limbo, all while we are in another dangerous hurricane season.”
Trump removed Noem from her DHS post in March. When Markwayne Mullen, previously a representative and senator from Oklahoma, took over, he rescinded Noem’s disastrous policy. Elected officials in North Carolina from both parties have said that FEMA reimbursements have since come with fewer delays. However, leaders think money still moves too slow, and those funds are urgently needed. While Morehead and Smathers both acknowledged that accountability for taxpayer dollars comes at the expense of efficiency, slow reimbursements have real world consequences.
“It’s an absolute bureaucratic nightmare,” Smathers said. “The right hand doesn’t know what the left hand’s doing, and it creates delays.”
“They’ve got to make sure everything’s verified; I get that, but those areas where we already have state or local procurement laws. Maybe just open it up and let us follow our own rules and have some flexibility,” Morehead said.
Morehead was quick to point out that the FEMA employees on the ground have been committed and “very easy to work with.” The problem is a disconnect somewhere up the chain of command, he believes. But FEMA staffing woes at all levels have also created issues, one source close to the recovery effort said. As soon as rapport with a program manager is built, that program manager is replaced. That familiarity matters in the same way that a person wouldn’t want to go to different doctor every time they have an issue. Under Trump, FEMA’s workforce has shrunk considerably. Less than two weeks ago, a federal judge said the president’s plan to cut the agency’s staffing in half is unlawful.
While many have called for FEMA reform, others have questioned its very existence. During a visit to the region, Trump said FEMA was “not good,” a “disaster,” a “very big disappointment,” and that he thought it might “go away.” In January 2025, he ordered the creation of a federal FEMA review council. The order claimed that “vulnerable Americans” aren’t getting support they need and alleged “political bias” in the organization. The council was tasked with producing a report including assessments of FEMA’s adequacy and an exploration of the agency’s role in the federal system.
The council made its report public in May. The recommended changes would shift much of the disaster-relief burden to state, territorial, and tribal governments. Critics raised concerns whether those all such governments could absorb the associated cost, especially when it comes to disasters in rural areas.
During a recent visit to Buncombe County, FEMA Administrator Cameron Hamilton weighed in on the issue in an interview with The Citizen Times.
“I think FEMA has a lot of things it can improve on,” Hamilton said. “I think there’s also areas that FEMA has been blamed for things that aren’t its fault. It’s a bit of a mixed bag.”
“My hope is that the final outcomes will be ways to truly reform emergency management as an entire industry to make it better, faster, and more efficient with how it delivers,” he added.
Stein has had conversations with decision makers in Washington, D.C., about specific frustrations state and community leaders have with FEMA. He isn’t opposed to states taking a more active role in disaster recoveries, but he noted that doing so requires an “infusion of funds so that local governments can do the immediate work of rebuilding whatever infrastructure was busted in their community.” Stein also said he wouldn’t want the agency’s flaws to be justification for abolition in lieu of reform.
“It’s imperative that the federal government remain a funding partner in this work at the same time that it gives states and local governments more authority and more flexibility to respond,” he said.
Sen. Ted Budd (R-NC) has known Secretary Mullen from their time together in the House and Senate. Budd called the secretary a “true friend” who understands FEMA’s need to be “efficient and responsive” but added that Helene’s unique nature has made recovery complicated. He believes Mullen will find ways to make future recoveries more flexible, adding that a key in future disasters will be getting people from all relevant federal agencies on the ground sooner.
“I think you’ve just got to get on it and stay after it,” Budd said.
The senator also thinks that with what folks from the community and volunteer organizations were able to do on the ground, FEMA should consider directing money toward organizations that have proved their mettle.
“I would say it was the front-line people, not even in federal government, who were the most help to the communities,” he said. “Anything we can do to resource them and make them more resilient and telecommunications more resilient (should be considered). Those are the things that we’re working on that aren’t front and center, that aren’t really noticed.”
A (mostly) bipartisan recovery
Recovery at the community level has been apolitical; just neighbors helping neighbors and outside volunteers giving selflessly. As far as government goes, there’s always a chance that political bickering may harm long-term prospects. However, up to now, Republicans and Democrats have worked well together, often in coalitions of unlikely allies, to make sure Western North Carolina isn’t left behind.
Stein has frequently been accompanied by state and local leaders from both parties on his trips to Washington, D.C.
“We’ve been working with the (state’s congressional) delegation to make our case and prove it,” Stein said. “I believe there’s widespread agreement that the funds are needed and worthwhile, and we just need this administration and this Congress to do something.”
Corbin recalled the June trip to D.C. with Stein, which included an impromptu four-hour car ride back when the state plane had mechanical problems. Corbin said the two didn’t talk about other political issues, even though the senator had sponsored an anti-DEI bill impacting state colleges and universities that the governor had just vetoed. They put aside outstanding political beefs to focus on the task at hand.
“One thing we can agree on is that we need to work toward recovery for Western North Carolina,” Corbin said. “That is not debatable. That is not political.”
“People just figure that we disagree on everything, and that’s just not accurate,” he added.
Another bipartisan effort is the Governor’s Advisory Committee on WNC Recovery, made up of dozens of elected leaders from both parties as well as business and community leaders. Corbin co-chairs the committee with Asheville Mayor Esther Manheimer, a Democrat. The committee, tasked with looking broadly at what is and isn’t working, has been a focal point for planning efforts. Corbin said it also provides accountability, not only for outside entities but also for the members themselves.
“This has not been a ‘name-only’ committee,” Corbin said. “It’s been a working committee.”
Sen. Budd, a Republican, has emerged as the most vocal proponent of Helene relief in Congress and stood alongside President Trump during his January 2025 visit to Swannanoa. While he has criticized Biden’s initial response, he told SMN that he worked with that administration during the early stages of the recovery, even advising his staff that sending Air Force One to Asheville could hurt relief efforts due to closing the surrounding air space.
“They heeded my advice on that,” Budd said.
He said he’s also been happy to work with state officials toward their common aim, even the Democratic governor.
“The goal is to help Western North Carolina,” he said. “It’s not to play partisan politics.”
While FEMA provides relief money through its channels, the federal government can fast-track a large sum of money through a direct appropriation. The only direct appropriation was passed in December 2024 toward the end of the Biden Administration. About $30 billion more in Helene relief is needed to meet the requirement established by the Stafford Act.
Budd has said he wouldn’t vote in favor of an upcoming supplemental or reconciliation bill meant to bolster military funding amid an expensive ongoing war with Iran if it doesn’t include Helene relief. That bill should come before Congress around November and is expected to also include aid for Florida farmers experiencing crop loss due to unseasonable frost. While he told SMN he’s in favor of delivering more money to the Department of Defense and those farmers, he can’t support something that doesn’t take care of the biggest problem in his own state, even if it has overwhelming Republican support. In July, Budd came before the Senate Appropriations Committee and said that too many recovery projects have stalled due to inefficient funding, forcing towns to implement “expensive short-term stopgap solutions just to carry out their most basic functions for their residents.”
“Every time I’m in Western North Carolina, people ask me to make sure that they’re not forgotten. This is Congress’s chance to remind them that we’re serious about helping them get back on their feet,” Budd told senators.
Budd told SMN that even without a direct appropriation, he’s pushed for a speedier, more effective recovery. For example, he recently spoke with EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin about a billion-dollar request for water projects in the region. While Budd said he wants to work with Stein on the governor’s $10.17 billion request, he prefers to look at things on a project-by-project basis rather than trying to convince Congress to greenlight an 11-figure appropriation.
“I think that’s a good way not to have accountability on the dollars,” he said of Stein’s larger request.
The bipartisan sentiment that’s become a hallmark of the Helene recovery may end at the White House. On Sept. 16, during a campaign rally for Senate candidate Michael Whatley, who as Trump’s Helene Czar has been criticized for his lack of presence and action, the president ruffled some feathers.
“We spent more than $2 billion in FEMA for funding,” Trump said. “You’re waiting for some additional money … I’m gonna get that to you. Now, if Michael loses, I’m not sending it.”
The line elicited as many groans from the Republican crowd as it did laughs. Considering the tragedy that was Helene and the hard work locals have put in to reopen businesses, rebuild homes, and get lives back on track, even when favorably interpreted as a bad joke, that kind of talk doesn’t help anyone, Stein told SMN.
“The idea that you would make any allusion, joking or not, that helping people who were harmed by a natural disaster is in any way contingent to who they elect to office is 100% offensive and wrong,” he said. “We need to stop joking about the recovery and start delivering for the people of Western North Carolina.”
While Budd didn’t condemn Trump’s comment, which he considered made in jest, he didn’t seem to agree with the tone.
“I can’t speak from his perspective, but I can say I don’t joke about those things,” Budd said. “I’m very serious when it comes to continuing support for Western North Carolina.”
Western North Carolina in January will have a new congressional representative, either Republican Jennifer Balkcom or Democrat Jamie Ager. Both weighed in on Trump’s remarks to WLOS. Contrary to most, Balkcom didn’t believe the quip was made in jest.
“He’s not withholding Helene funding. We’ve never — in the state House that I’ve served in — ever withheld Helene funding. We have fought to get Helene funding,” Balkcom said. “I don’t think he was being funny. I think he was trying to persuade voters to vote for Michael Whatley.”
Ager didn’t even directly reference Trump’s remark in his comment to WLOS.
“We’ve got people still struggling to put their lives back together. We’ve got whole communities waiting to get money from Helene recovery,” Ager said. “It’s already been stalled and delayed way too long, and we need leaders in this country who understand that leadership matters, that words matter.”
aren’t front and center, that aren’t really noticed.”
Looking ahead
While there is warranted frustration about the slow flow of money, Corbin wanted to temper the conversation by reminding people that what everyone experienced was unprecedented, and so too is the recovery. The blueprint is being drawn as the process plays out.
“Money could have come quicker, work could happen quicker, but it’s hard to point blame when I think everybody involved has done their best,” he said.
Recovery efforts proceed at the speed of bureaucracy, but noticeable improvements continue, Corbin noted.
Earlier this month, the U.S. Forest Service announced it’d received nearly $65 million in funds from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to remove thousands of fallen trees from the mountains. Such debris increases risks during future wildfires, floods, and landslides. In a process that is likely to take years, as the next big storm may be right around the corner, time is of the essence.
Much of the Blue Ridge Parkway was also damaged during Helene. Some sections of road were wiped away. The parkway is a crucial tourism driver, bringing almost $1.4 billion per year to local economies in North Carolina and Virginia. While the entirety of the road was closed following Helene, most is now reopened, except for the stretch between the Linville Falls area and Mount Mitchell State Park, which incurred exceptional damage. Many repairs have been slow-going due to remote locations, difficult terrain, and shorter construction seasons due to unpredictable weather at higher elevations. According to the National Park System, all recovery projects along the parkway will be completed by the end of the year. That project, which has also benefitted from over 22,600 man-hours of volunteer labor, has been entirely federally funded.
The Stafford Act bars FEMA from providing reimbursements for work done on private roads and bridges. Until Helene, the state had never provided funds for such efforts. The mountains of Western North Carolina are unique in the number of private roads crisscrossing creeks that split its valleys and coves. A new state program has completed 146 repairs to private roads and bridges, as well as associated pipes and culverts that serve about 852 households. Another 48 roads are under construction. Many of these projects have been completed by nonprofits and volunteer organizations using state funds.
Stein wanted people to remember that even with the most efficient response, long-term recovery is just that — long term. While $9.8 billion in federal dollars have been allocated, that money hasn’t all been dispersed. That process takes time, he said.
“The work has not yet been done, and that’s where folks really can appreciate that this is a marathon and not a sprint,” Stein said. “A lot of the recovery work takes place in in years two, three, and four.”
The accepted timeline for a return to something like normal is five years total. In the meantime, as climate change creates storms that can dump more precipitation inland, those working to recover from Helene are thinking about what must be done when this happens again.
“We need to be prepared,” Corbin said. “Weather patterns are changing. Chances of something like this happening again are certainly there.”
While Corbin represents only a small portion of the hardest-hit areas, he considers how his backyard narrowly avoided devastation. Just a small shift in the storm’s path and it could have been Franklin, Bryson City, and Sylva that received the brunt instead of Asheville, Hendersonville, Marshall, and Canton.
“You talk about the Cullasaja River, the Little Tennessee, the Hiwassee River — those are all very vulnerable areas,” Corbin said. “If a storm like this hits again, hopefully we’ll be ready for it.”
Mayor Smathers admitted that even with the specter of another storm always looming, fatigue has become a factor for many in Canton. All the loss, all the work put in, and all the work that still needs to be done is overwhelming, especially considering Helene hit before the Fred recovery was even complete.
“I think people are over it, and they just want to move on,” he said.
But if recent history has taught us anything, it’s that it will happen again. To let hopes that it won’t guide decisions is facile. Soon enough, leaders will find out whether the blueprint drawn from Helene will work.
“This has been so unique,” Smathers said. “When another storm hits, you’ll see what’s been fixed and what hasn’t.”