Infrastructure, resiliency and a flood of aid: Gov. Cooper tours Haywood County
North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper (left) chats with Canton Mayor Zeb Smathers and FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell at the International Paper Sports Complex in Canton on Oct. 4.
Cory Vaillancourt photo
North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper, with FEMA Administrator Deanna Criswell in tow, continued his multi-day western swing today, making stops in Haywood County to survey damage from Hurricane Helene, to thank volunteers and to hear from local officials.
“I'm so impressed with the preparation that was done here, understanding what storms could do but not expecting the magnitude of the storm that actually hit — water raging in rivers all over Western North Carolina in an unprecedented way,” Cooper said.
After starting his visit at the International Paper Sports Complex in Canton, where an aid distribution site has been operating, Cooper moved on to Riverview Farm and Garden, which had been gutted by floodwaters for the second time in just over three years.
“The town of Canton has so many resilient, dedicated, dedicated and determined people,” Cooper said. “They came back from Tropical Storm Fred. They came back from the mill closing that hurt this area economically, and they're going to come back from this.”
Cooper ran down a list of supplies delivered to Haywood County, including but not limited to water, medical cots, swift water rescue teams, law enforcement officers, nurses, incident management teams, canine search teams, EPA hazmat specialists, high water clearance vehicles, ambulances and mobile cellular transmission equipment.
Although cellular and internet services are slowly and sporadically coming back, Cooper apparently took note of sharp commentary made by Smathers on Sept. 28, when he called out telecommunications companies for the failure of their infrastructure — which impeded rescue operations, kept citizens out of the loop with automated warnings and put lives at risk at the peak of the storm.
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Cooper said telcos need to harden their systems.
“We think this investment is important, not only for the people here but for the economy of our state, because we this is a place that people want to come and want to be,” Cooper said. “So I will certainly be advocating for long term investments that are that are more resilient here.”
All 22 hospitals in Western North Carolina, Cooper added, are now back online, and crews are working to restore power to those who remain in the dark, a week after catastrophic flooding pounded the region, killing hundreds. More than 50 regional water systems have been affected, and crews are working to restore those as well.
“The infrastructure of many of these communities was very old to start with, and this flood just decimated it. I think the key is to build it back as quickly as possible, but also in a resilient way,” Cooper said. “There may have to be some temporary workarounds that provide water for a period of time while they build the main infrastructure. That’s one of the reasons why we called in the Army Corps of Engineers with FEMA, to bring their engineers to try to help these communities, obviously Asheville being the biggest one.”
Canton Mayor Zeb Smathers echoed Cooper’s sentiments about readiness.
“I feel the town and Haywood County, we were the best prepared to deal with this,” Smathers said. “But there's only so much you can do with 28 feet of water comes to your hometown.”
He also doubled down on earlier statements indicating that debris removal after the previous flood three years ago helped the town avoid even more destruction.
Criswell said that more than 50,000 people had already applied for disaster assistance at disasterassistance.gov and that more than $5 million had already been disbursed.
Cooper’s next stop, at the Haywood County Sheriff’s Office in Waynesville, highlighted the coordinated response of the county’s various public safety agencies, but Cooper, Criswell, Sheriff Bill Wilke and Commission Chair Kevin Ensley spent a good amount of time continuing to address misinformation being shared online.
After the visit, Cooper was scheduled to tour sites in Jackson County. Earlier in the day, he said he was trying to make it to every western county impacted by the storm.
