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Washed out road
Helene: Aftermath and Recovery
Hurricane Helene made landfall in Florida on Sept. 26, 2024. Weakened to a tropical depression, the massive storm moved across the Carolinas dumping rain. The catastrophic flooding caused by Helene has devastated much of western South Carolina and North Carolina.

PHOTOS: Costumed Ashevillians flock to downtown for Halloween festivities in midst of storm recovery

BPR News | By Laura Hackett
Published November 1, 2024 at 11:55 AM EDT
The Randall family in front of Botanist & Barrel in downtown Asheville.
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The Randall family in front of Botanist & Barrel in downtown Asheville.
Laura Hackett
The Dettelbach famiy outside of The Lazoom Room's Halloween party.
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The Dettelbach famiy outside of The Lazoom Room's Halloween party.
Laura Hackett
Performance artist Erin Schmidt outside of the Lazoom Room Halloween party.
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Performance artist Erin Schmidt outside of the Lazoom Room Halloween party.
Laura Hackett
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Laura Hackett
Megan Phelps, an employee at Relic Jewelry, dressed as medusa.
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Megan Phelps, an employee at Relic Jewelry, dressed as medusa.
Laura Hackett
Buskers Zoe Norris and Brandon Thompson in front of Mast General Store on Halloween.
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Buskers Zoe Norris and Brandon Thompson in front of Mast General Store on Halloween.
Laura Hackett

In the aftermath of Helene, downtown Asheville looked a little different than years past. But locals are still trying to make the best of it.

The Asheville Downtown Association hosted a block party last night and BPR’s Laura Hackett was there to chat with folks, who were dressed up as everything from wizards to water bottles.
Arts & Culture
Laura Hackett
Laura Hackett is an Edward R. Murrow award-winning reporter for Blue Ridge Public Radio. She joined the newsroom in 2023 as a Government Reporter and in 2025 moved into a new role as BPR's Helene Recovery Reporter. Before entering the world of public radio, she wrote for Mountain Xpress, AVLtoday and the Asheville Citizen-Times. She has a degree in creative writing from Florida Southern College, and in 2023, she completed the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY's Product Immersion for Small Newsrooms program.
See stories by Laura Hackett