Federal, state officials tour Haywood County after Helene
Attorney General Josh Stein (right) talks with Canton Fire Chief Kevin Wheeler at Canton’s town hall complex on Oct. 7. Cory Vaillancourt photo
Where once were surging floodwaters, now elected representatives from both the federal and state level are pouring into Western North Carolina and Haywood County, touring damaged areas, talking to local officials about needs and thanking first responders for their service to their communities.
North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper, with FEMA Administrator Deanna Criswell in tow, continued his multi-day western swing on Oct. 4, making stops in Haywood and Jackson Counties.
“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.
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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.
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 conspiracy theories being shared online.
On Oct. 7, Attorney General Josh Stein stopped in to Canton after visiting hard-hit Avery County, and similarly denounced outrageous claims made by some.
“There are people intentionally misrepresenting what’s happening so that folks don’t know what to believe, and with their communications so stretched and difficult, it makes it very difficult for folks to know what to believe and what not to believe,” Stein said. “Do not react to what you hear that sounds outrageous until you’ve done a little bit of research, because it’s very easy to make something sound outrageous and plausible, but it’s just not true.”
Stein also warned the public about storm scams — price gouging, charitable fraud and home repair cons.
On Oct. 8, Sen. Thom Tillis visited the same complex Cooper had a few days before, saying he was pleased with the overall response by FEMA. Tillis, a frequent visitor to the region, recently secured a $5.8 million appropriation for Canton’s new fire station, which will replace the current building damaged by flooding in 2021 and by Helene last month.
“I’m back in Canton to tell those folks that I’m going to be with them on this one, just like I was the last one and any future ones,” Tillis said.
Mark Pless, Haywood County’s Republican representative in the General Assembly, said that House Speaker Tim Moore (R-Cleveland) met with leaders in Canton on Oct. 4, delivering supplies and moving onto Clyde, Waynesville and the Crabtree Fire Department before joining the mayors of Hot Springs and Marshall in Madison County, which Pless also represents.
Rep. Destin Hall (R-Caldwell) and Rep. Karl Gillespie (R-Macon) accompanied Pless to Marshall and Hot Springs again on Oct. 6.
