By Catholic News Herald
ASHEVILLE, N.C. (OSV News) — A year after Helene devastated Western North Carolina, signs of recovery are everywhere — from rebuilt roads and bridges, to refurbished homes, to revived workplaces. Yet scars remain, too.
Piles of debris trigger traumatic memories. Shuttered storefronts stand eerily next to reopened shops and restaurants. The tourist-driven economy remains soft, and mudslides and flood waters have left their marks.
Helene hit Sept. 27, 2024, as a tropical storm, causing widespread destruction from flooding, landslides and high winds. It made landfall as a Category 4 hurricane near Perry, Florida, before moving inland. The storm’s path of destruction extended nearly 500 miles.
Helene claimed 108 lives in North Carolina
Helene claimed the lives of 108 people in North Carolina and caused more than $44 billion in direct damage, and billions more in economic impact; 73,000 homes were damaged, and over 6,900 roads and bridges were destroyed. Recovery will take years.
In an interview ahead of the storm’s anniversary, Melissa Stuart, principal of Asheville Catholic School, told the Catholic News Herald, the Charlotte Diocese’s news outlet, it wouldn’t be a celebration, but “more of an emotional remembrance.”
“While there is a lot to celebrate, people are still traumatized,” she said. “A lot of areas still look like they did right after the storm.”
Stuart’s school families were relieved in August to kick off a new year quietly. This time last year, kids were out of school for nearly a month after the storm, much of that time without power and water.
‘A day of remembrance like 9/11’
Father Patrick Cahill, who pastored Asheville’s St. Eugene Parish through the storm, said the anniversary would be “a day of remembrance sort of like 9/11 — just kind of taking in the impact of all that happened. It will also be a day of thanksgiving … to God for his grace and for all the people who have come to our assistance.”
In Swannanoa, generally considered “ground zero” for Helene, leaders at St. Margaret Mary Parish discussed what type of anniversary event felt appropriate. A celebration? A shared meal?
They ultimately decided on three hours of Eucharistic adoration in the church so that parishioners could grieve and offer gratitude before the Blessed Sacrament.
Father John Allen, who was reassigned from Charlotte in July to serve as St. Margaret Mary’s pastor spent weeks visiting parishioners — including Marisol Mireles, who survived flood waters by clinging to a tree — trying to absorb the depth of the storm’s impact.
‘A deep sense of gratitude to God’
“I know there is a deep sense of gratitude to God for all the people who have assisted in relief efforts, from the first responders to the volunteers to the neighbors who have helped them to weather this horrific event,” Father Allen said. “A quiet moment of adoration,” he added, was a chance for people “to thank God for all the ways their lives are being rebuilt — physically and spiritually.”
An estimated 1 in 5 Catholics living in the Diocese of Charlotte reside in the 25 counties initially designated federal disaster areas after the storm. At least 20 of the diocese’s 93 churches were affected. The widespread impact was a call to action for the rest of the diocese to help in any way possible.
More than $13.3 million has poured into the diocese’s Helene Relief Fund over the past year from donors around the world. From its Pastoral Center in Charlotte and parishes across the western half of North Carolina, the diocese launched the largest humanitarian effort in its history — which continues today.
Basic necessities by the truckload
It responded first by providing basic necessities, by the truckload, creating a hub-and-spoke network that transformed mountain churches and schools into relief centers. The diocese then shifted to long-term recovery efforts through its Catholic Charities agency.
“Nobody thought a hurricane could climb a mountain,” said Jesse Boeckermann, Catholic Charities’ western regional director in Asheville.
The agency had never faced such a disaster, said Gerry Carter, president and CEO of Catholic Charities. The agency had to transform itself to deliver services that were so desperately needed — targeting especially people who had little or no insurance or access to other resources.
It was a challenge for Catholic Charities’ staff, some of whom had homes themselves that were flooded or badly damaged.
Painstaking work of long-term recovery
Within a month of Helene, Catholic Charities began hiring a dozen disaster case managers to ramp up the painstaking work of long-term recovery. They’d already partnered with more than 117 organizations to help storm survivors, building relationships at the grassroots level. Today, Catholic Charities has assigned the equivalent of 20 staff to working disaster relief.
The agency initially assisted the diocese in securing and distributing supplies to thousands of people. Over the year, it provided one-on-one assistance to more than 1,700 households, including financial support, restorations of 110 homes, rent and temporary lodging payments, vehicle repairs and replacement, and burial costs for needy families who lost loved ones in the storm.
The agency focuses on helping survivors find jobs, navigate housing and financial needs, and in some cases find mental health and spiritual counseling.
Case workers in hardest hit areas
Case workers are collaborating in “long-term recovery groups” in some of the hardest hit — and most difficult to access — areas, including Chimney Rock and Bat Cave.
“There are people who weren’t able to get help from insurance or FEMA,” said Neal Foster, disaster program supervisor, who lived through the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. “These are areas where topography makes rebuilding much harder than other regions. People can’t access driveways that might serve 40 homes. Some people can’t rebuild because the floodplain is now in a different place.”
Individuals, parishes and Catholic schools have also continued relief efforts throughout the year.
Within hours of the storm, St. Mark parishioners in Huntersville gathered and delivered basic supplies for airlifts and convoys to the mountains.
Within days, Father Richard Sutter and volunteers from St. Gabriel Parish in Charlotte were on the ground in Swannanoa.
Schools as collection points for supplies
Catholic schools outside the disaster area became collection points for supplies, while those within the disaster zone focused on bringing back normal structures for students — yet also providing room to process the trauma and disruption of the storm.
Asheville Catholic School launched “Wellness Wednesdays” shortly after students returned, to demonstrate healthy ways of dealing with emotional stress through art and conversation. By spring, students were testing at expected growth levels.
Still, the new school year brought sadness over the loss of five teachers whose families had to relocate due to job loss and other storm impacts.
In Mars Hill, St. Andrew the Apostle Parish still operates a food pantry on Wednesdays, born out of the months it served as a vital supply hub for the community.
Still pockets of ‘devastated’ areas
“There are still people out there trying to come back, still pockets of land that are devastated,” said parish secretary Kelly Hansen. “Many of the folks we see are poor, they didn’t have insurance, and they’re still trying to get back on their feet. A lot of their jobs are gone because businesses were wiped out. People that aren’t from around here might not understand what we’re seeing. We got through the first year, but we’re not over it.”
Deacon Daren Bitter from St. Matthew Parish worked from his home in Charlotte, coordinating air drops of supplies to people stranded in areas of Yancey and Mitchell counties where roads had washed out.
“I started the work right after the storm and was still at it two months later,” Deacon Bitter recalls. “At times I broke down because of the emotions from what we were hearing about, but I knew I couldn’t stop.”
Catholic volunteer groups from all over
Catholic groups of volunteers have also continued to serve, including the Knights of Columbus from Holy Spirit Parish in Denver. They made dozens of trips to far-flung rural communities delivering building supplies and heaters in the winter months.
Although the diocese’s churches mostly escaped damage, their parishioners were struggling.
Charlotte Bishop Michael T. Martin established a “Sister Parish Program” to help parishes in the disaster zone replace declining offertories so they could continue their operations and outreach. The program paired parishes in the central and eastern parts of the diocese with those in the west, raising more than $466,000.
Many people are dealing with a maze of paperwork and phone calls and frustrations, as they try to rebuild their homes and lives, said Father Christopher Bond, pastor of St. Lucien Parish in Spruce Pine.
‘It’s been a struggle to secure funds’
Gregory Stewart is one of those frustrated parishioners. His house took on 5 feet of water from Linville River flooding. “We’re moving along slowly, and right now, we’re insulating the house,” he told the Catholic News Herald. “It’s been a struggle to secure funds. Our main help has come from our parish.”
At ground zero, St. Margaret Mary Parish brought in trauma counselors for both English and Spanish speakers, a resource that continues today.
Clients initially reported a wide variety of symptoms including flashbacks, trouble sleeping and general anxiety about threatening weather, said Nancy Hartman, a licensed clinical mental health counselor.
A year later, she said many have made significant progress, although they are “understandably tired from a year of digging out from under the rubble of their lives, both literally and figuratively.”
No grocery story or post office
Swannanoa still has no grocery store, post office or city park.
“They say that although the hurricane will always be there, they see how they were also blessed with so much afterward,” Hartman said. “Support of family and colleagues, a new understanding of themselves and their ability to thrive in difficulty, and especially a deeper understanding of the tremendous value of suffering, as well as an increase in their gratitude for every little good thing.”
Contributing to this story were Christina Lee Knauss, who is on the staff of the Catholic News Herald, the news outlet of the Diocese of Charlotte, and Liz Chandler, diocesan director of communications. This story was originally published by the Catholic News Herald and distributed through a partnership with OSV News.
The post In North Carolina, ‘we got through the first year’ after Helene, ‘but we’re not over it’ first appeared on OSV News.
