It’s been a year since Hurricane Helene swept through western North Carolina and destroyed communities. Although most of the focus has been on devastated places in the mountains, the hurricane also severely impacted parts of Gaston County — a place where people are now trying to get their lives back on track after the storm. Helene impacted residents in Gaston County, but it also spotlighted the county's business and local emergency departments' efforts to respond to a natural disaster.
Barbara Wallace sat at Riverside Park & Greenway near downtown Cramerton on a recent morning. Wallace is a retired physics and physical science teacher and a resident of Cramerton. She's also someone who considers herself a nerd when it comes to tracking developments in the atmosphere. When most people slept as Helene rolled in late in the night. Wallace did the opposite.
“I was in front of the house. It’s small. What we call a mill house." Wallace said. "I was monitoring the storm through the weather app and the winds on an app I have on my phone, seeing when the estimated worst time of the storm would be.”
As Helene rolled in, it brought winds of 40 to 90 miles per hour to the region. What Helene also brought Wallace was about $80,000 worth of damage when a large water oak tree crashed on her home.
“I consider myself very fortunate,” Wallace said. "I had a lot of structural repairs done to my house over the previous six to eight years. So, I know that is probably what saved it from just crushing.”
The state Department of Health and Human Services reported that there were 108 confirmed storm-related fatalities in North Carolina tied to Hurricane Helene. Buncombe County reported the most, with 43. While Gaston had one. As a result of Helene's damage, Wallace spent about five months in a hotel in Belmont. Her insurance helped cover the damage.
The Federal Emergency Management Administration provided about $750 to cover out-of-pocket expenses. Getting funds for Helene's recovery from the federal government under the Trump administration is something Gov. Josh Stein has continued to push for. Last week, Stein asked Congress for an additional
$13.5 billion in recovery aid.
“The people of western North Carolina are not asking for a handout,” Stein said. "They’re asking for a hand up to get back on their feet.”
The state has been awarded federal funds that cover about 9% of the damage caused by Hurricane Helene, Stein said in a press conference in Flat Rock. It's estimated that Helene caused about $60 billion worth of damage to North Carolina.
“It makes me angry because they work for us, whether I have a D, an R, or an I after my name on my voter registration, I'm still their constituent,” Wallace said. "Everybody in North Carolina is still their constituent. And you know, you shouldn't play politics when it's a natural disaster.”
In a statement released by the Department of Homeland Security last week, officials announced an additional $64.2 million to support recovery efforts. The statement also said that in the last two months, North Carolina has been provided more than $228 million in recovery reimbursement. Since January, the administration has allocated $3 billion toward Hurricane Helene.
The U.S. Department of Transportation also announced on Tuesday that the North Carolina Department of Transportation will receive $1.15 billion in additional emergency relief funds.
At Floyd and Blackies in downtown Cramerton, Phyllis Caudle cleaned up dishes on a recent morning. Caudle is the restaurant’s bakery manager. When Helene hit, nearly 70% of Gaston County lost power.
Floyd and Blackies was one of the few places where the lights remained on. The restaurant became a hub for supporting community members who needed to get in contact with loved ones. Supporting community members became a theme throughout the state. In places such as Charlotte and Gaston County, charitable groups sent aid that included water and non-perishable food items to those most impacted in the mountains.
“A hurricane can cause horrible damage, but it can also show that humanity still cares,” Caudle said. "I saw a lot of people who gave more than they had to give, but they gave because they knew others had nothing.”
Allen Hook is an emergency management planner for Gaston County. He recalls the heavy rain that hit the area. To mitigate problems, he said they deployed trailers in Cramerton and McAdenville, near the South Fork of the Catawba River.
“Those are things we pre-deploy in those areas because we have to block roads,” Hook said. "We have to keep vehicular traffic from those areas we know are going to potentially flood.”
The wind caused many trees and power cables to fall on roads. In North Carolina, over 1,400 roads were closed after the storm, with 10 in Gaston County, according to the North Carolina Department of Transportation. Fallen trees, road closures and power outages disruptions blew up the phone lines.
“For Helene, it just got to the point where there were just more calls for service than they’re people to go and look at them,” Hook said.
At the 28 at Mount Holly apartment complex, Edgar Avina had a bunch of items like jeans, shorts and baby clothes on the floor, while other items were in the wash getting their regular scrub.
Avina, 20, was not impacted by Helene. The Charlottean recently moved into the apartment with his wife and his two-month-old baby. The complex is located right next to the Dutchman Creek, which flooded when Helene hit and displaced many residents. When asked whether the complex's flood history concerned him at all, he said: “Nope. Hurricane Helene was one in a blue moon type of situation.”
Near Avina's home on a recent morning was Brandon Jones, the Catawba River Keeper. He stood near the Dutchman Creek, surrounded by buzzing insects. He said some of the apartments where Avina lives are in danger.
“The one actually right beside us is actually in the floodway,” Jones said. "So, that one is much more in the line of fire. And we would expect during high flow events, like hurricanes, like Helene, for that to be impacted.”
Jones pointed out what can be done to mitigate the risk of floods in the area. “The easiest thing to say and the hardest thing to do is retreat and stop building stuff in the flood plain,” Jones said.
A year since Hurricane Helene hit, the impact of the storm lingers. The damage caused by one of the deadliest and costliest natural disasters has raised questions about where and when the next flood might come. That's something policymakers are weighing.
But Barbara Wallace, who has now returned home, says she is grateful to be able to get her life back on track after Helene.
“I can’t complain because there are people who had it far worse than I did,” Wallace said. "If you can have a perfect experience with a situation, I pretty much had a perfect experience.”
Wallace attributes her experience as "perfect" because of her community of rescue workers, hotel staff and friends who stepped in to support her when she needed them most.
