It is difficult to know what to write after a disaster of the magnitude caused by Hurricane Helene. It certainly teaches us the importance of coming together as a community to check on and help our friends and neighbors, and how vital our emergency response teams, first responders, National Guard, churches, shelters for both humans and animals, and relief organizations are in times like this.

This is not the end of our story in Western North Carolina. Far from it. It’s an opportunity for a new beginning, a reshaping of this place that has always been so good for the soul. As I stand on my front porch steps and pause to look at and smell the trees, see leaves slowly spiraling earthward, feel the crisp bite of autumn in the morning air, take a deep breath and know that all will be healed in time. 

Early October, and these mountains are already beginning to put on their glorious garments of autumn. A splash of red here or orange there, the green sleeves of many trees shading to yellow. In just a few weeks, we will be treated to that familiar splendor that beckons tens of thousands of people to get in their cars every year and drive for hours or even days just to get a glimpse of it. 

On the morning of Sept. 27, as rain fell steadily from the pre-dawn sky, Travis Donaldson took a drive around the eastern end of Haywood County. Donaldson, the county’s emergency services director, made a lap around all the appropriate areas, finishing up in Cruso with the intention of turning around and heading back toward Waynesville, where an emergency operations center had already been set up. 

Let’s not sugarcoat it anymore. To call it “misinformation” is, in itself, misinformation. Let’s just call it what it is — straight-up lies, of the sort that would earn you a whoopin’ by meemaw if you repeated them to her face instead of spreading them from behind a keyboard like a coward. 

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.  

Hurricane Helene has dealt serious damage to Pactiv Evergreen’s shuttered Canton paper mill, but the St. Louis-based demolition and development company owner trying to buy the 185-acre parcel remains undeterred. 

On Friday evening, downtown Waynesville was in kind of a festive spirit — a far cry from what all of us here in Western North Carolina have felt for over a week now.

The head of FEMA, Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper, Republican Haywood County Sheriff Bill Wilke and Republican Haywood County Commission Chair Kevin Ensley flatly denied rumors and conspiracy theories circulating on social media alleging a lack of government response to the catastrophe left in the wake of Tropical Storm Helene.

The comments came during a Friday afternoon press conference at the Haywood County Sheriff’s Office. Cooper began by praising emergency response professionals who are on the ground and in the water rescuing people, but he also thanked volunteers aiding in the recovery.

The National Park Service (NPS) continues to assess conditions and to address damage following the impacts from Hurricane Helene in Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Today, park staff are prioritizing assessments of high use roads and trails as well as radio repeaters and historic structures throughout the park.