As the rain from Hurricane Helene mercifully subsided around noon on Sept. 27, smaller creeks in Haywood County receded fairly quickly, the extra water from each flowing into larger tributaries before combining into the Pigeon River as it heads through a narrow gorge into Tennessee. 

I was sitting at the bar at the Bavarian Inn in West Virginia when I received a flurry of texts from a girlfriend asking if our boys, who are roommates in Asheville NC, were OK. She had been watching the news and was unable to reach her son. I got on my phone to understand what she was telling me about Hurricane Helene. Seeing the devastation, I made a phone call. Then another. I sent a text, followed by a facetime request. We have an understanding in my family that if the same person calls back right away it’s important, so we answer. My boys never violate this rule. Despite my efforts to try every avenue of communication that I could think of, I had no luck until finally, the youngest answered. He was in Knoxville and safe. I started the process again.

As the life-threatening emergency faced in the wake Hurricane Helene ebbs in Haywood County and the reality of the long road to recovery washes over the region, so too does the task of processing the traumatic event. On Monday evening, Meredith McCarroll and Nickole Brown led a workshop at Orchard Coffee in Waynesville to help people process that trauma through writing.  

The power of water. Today was a rough one. 

To preface, I’ve been entirely caught up in the chaotic whirlwind in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, whether it be with my journalist hat on interviewing flood victims or simply being a distraught resident of Western North Carolina. 

No book review today. Instead, some words about the importance of words — yours.

If you’re reading these words and live in Western North Carolina, Eastern Tennessee, or parts of Georgia and South Carolina, then you survived the Great Flood of 2024.  

When you’re a columnist for a newspaper, you don’t take the space for granted. It is a gift and an honor to be given a page every other week to offer my thoughts and opinions on matters of the world or matters of the soul.

Anyone on the internet knows that it can be a place of negativity and division. But it’s also a powerful tool for connection, and in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, Crystal Cochran harnessed that connection to build a community of volunteers that provided vital assistance to thousands in Western North Carolina. 

Kevin Ensley and Brandon Rogers, respectively chair and vice chair of the Haywood County Board of Commissioners, both ran for reelection last in 2020 amid unprecedented economic challenges and a contentious national election. It’s little different this time.  

After a series of emotional speeches by western legislators during an Oct. 9 press conference and assurances from Senate President Phil Berger (R-Rockingham) that the measure was only a “first step,” North Carolina’s General Assembly unanimously passed, and Gov. Roy Cooper signed a wide-ranging $273 million storm relief act on Oct. 10 that will fund recovery spending by state agencies and loosen regulations that can sometimes get in the way.

In response to the devastating impact of Hurricane Helene on communities throughout North Carolina, the ASPCA® is announcing the launch of an animal assistance hotline for residents in Western North Carolina affected by the catastrophic storm.