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.

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.

Putting the truck into park, my girlfriend, Sarah, and I finally returned to our quaint apartment in downtown Waynesville Monday evening. After a long journey from the North Carolina coast back to Haywood County this weekend, it’s been a whirlwind of emotions.  

AGAIN. For the second time in three years, Haywood County, the highest east of the Mississippi River, experienced devastating flooding from a tropical weather system that reached mountainous Southern Appalachia’s narrow, rocky canyons and broad, lush river valleys — wiping out whole towns, inundating normally impregnable areas and crippling the communications and transportation infrastructure that powers public safety, commerce and the dissemination of information. 

Editor's note: Hurricane Helene has already produced flash flooding and dangerous winds across the region, and it has come on the heels of heavy rains, downed trees, sporadic tornadoes and some minor flooding due to a separate system that entered the region from the west. Smoky Mountain News Staff will be out gathering photos and firsthand reports throughout Friday and beyond. This page will be updated with those pictures and stories as they come in from across our coverage area, but you can always find more on our Facebook, Instagram and X accounts.

A special stage production of Agatha Christie’s legendary whodunit “The Mousetrap” will be held at 7:30 p.m. Sept. 27-28, Oct. 4-5, 11-12, 17-19 and 2 p.m. Sept. 29, Oct. 6, 13 and 20 at the Haywood Arts Regional Theatre in Waynesville. 

Presented by the Haywood County Arts Council (HCAC), the “Fashion for the Arts” fundraiser will be held from 2-4 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 29, at the Waynesville Inn & Golf Club. 

Regional rock/jam group Arnold Hill will perform at 8 p.m. Friday, Sept. 27, at The Scotsman Public House in Waynesville. 

What started off as a clever idea to address recidivism has grown into something more — a community-driven response to concerning and costly social ills like homelessness, mental illness and substance abuse disorder. 

Haywood Regional Medical Center announced the launch of a convenient walk-in mammography clinic at the HRMC Breast Center, located on the second floor of the Outpatient Care Center at 581 Leroy George Drive in Clyde.