(No. 8) A year later, the storm is gone, but the recovery still shapes Burke County

Hurricane Helene did not simply pass through Burke County. It rearranged it.

More than a year after floodwaters surged beyond anything recorded in local history, Helene arguably remains the defining event shaping budgets, businesses, parks, and public patience in 2025. The rain stopped long ago. The consequences have not.

The Paper published 393 stories in 2025 that included Hurricane Helene. Collectively, the stories illuminated the strength of our community as neighbors helped neighbors, the fortitude of our governments as officials worked tirelessly to restore services; and the complexity of state and federal governments as pledged assistance was anything but simple.

Helene created a three-day deluge that overwhelmed rivers, erased infrastructure, and surpassed even the legendary flood of 1916. The Catawba River crested higher than ever recorded. Morganton flooded. Roads vanished. Power and communications failed. Rescue crews worked without pause.

That destruction set in motion a recovery effort measured not in weeks, but years.

In Burke County and Morganton, the price tag is staggering. The City of Morganton alone has filed FEMA claims totaling more than $42 million. Burke County spent roughly $11 million responding to Helene-related damage, a hit that dropped the county’s fund balance from a projected 28.5% to 19.5%. Both governments have continued operating, but the storm reshaped fiscal priorities and slowed momentum.

FEMA funding is coming, but slowly. The reimbursement process, already tedious by design, has grown more complex with additional federal oversight layers requiring multiple approvals, including sign-off at the cabinet level for large projects. Morganton has received some reimbursements, but tens of millions remain tied up in early project development stages. To bridge the gap, the state created a new interest-free disaster loan program. Morganton qualified for one of the largest allocations, though even that program has limitations that do not fully solve the city’s cash-flow challenges.

Public projects reflect this limbo. Catawba Meadows Park, the Catawba River Soccer Complex, the greenway boardwalk, pump stations, and utility systems remain works in progress. Engineering contracts are being awarded. Designs are being finalized. Bids are pending. Progress is real, but uneven and often invisible to the public.

Some improvements, however, are visible. For example, on July 19, The Paper published a story about a section of Greenway and Catawba Meadows Park reopening. A new, flood-resilient maintenance facility at Catawba Meadows is moving through design.

Recovery has also revealed sharp contrasts.

Tourism rebounded strongly. Visitor spending in Burke County jumped nearly 12% in 2024, one of the fastest growth rates in the state, helping support jobs and easing the local tax burden. Even with park closures and greenway damage, people kept coming.

For some businesses, however, Helene never loosened its grip.

EJ Victor, a luxury furniture manufacturer that operated in Morganton for 35 years, permanently closed after flood damage. More than 120 jobs were lost. Walgreens shuttered its Green Street location, deeming it a total loss.

In Valdese, volunteers reopened Lakeside Park in just eight days, clearing 85 trees with their own equipment and no expectation of reimbursement. That story was part of a series in the Sept 27, 2025, edition that focused on recovery efforts.

Across Burke County, nonprofits, churches, and grassroots groups stepped in where bureaucracy moved slowly. Long-term recovery organizations formed. Benefit concerts and documentary screenings marked not just remembrance, but persistence.

Helene also reshaped how the community sees itself. A year later, the storm is no longer just a disaster. It is part of Burke County’s identity. Waterlines on buildings remain visible. Closed storefronts tell quiet stories. So do reopened trails, busy restaurants, and packed events downtown.

The storm changed Burke County. The work of living with that change continues, one permit, one project, one reopened space at a time.

— AVN