Weeks after Helene, Burke and Buncombe finding new normal

I had been awake all night when, on the early morning of Friday, Sept. 27, Hurricane Helene swirled into the mountains and foothills of western North Carolina and, at first, I honestly didn’t think it sounded all that bad.

Really, I had been more worried hearing the wind and rain outside a couple of months ago when a small tornado had passed nearby.

As the morning progressed, however, it became obvious that this storm had truly been a once-in-a-lifetime weather phenomenon, one that snapped telephone poles in half, ripped houses from their foundations, and caved in entire stretches of road.

I live in Buncombe County, and my family had been lucky enough that when I looked outside onto our property, I wouldn’t have even really thought that the most destructive storm in decades had just passed through our area.

Thanks to my father digging trenches around our home the day before, we squeaked by with only some minor flooding in the laundry room and a pond that swelled out into our backyard.

Once the rain slowed down and we walked out onto our street, the truth about Helene became much clearer, and we realized how we were very fortunate to have essentially no damage to our own house.

Only a mile down the road, a colossal landslide had wiped out an entire section of a neighborhood, leaving numerous people dead and others still missing.

A mile in the other direction, we found that a part of our road had completely collapsed under the pressure of the water. This left us trapped in our house for several days, isolated from the rest of the community.

Once my father and I could get into downtown Black Mountain on his scooter, we found empty streets, dead stoplights, and shuttered stores.

That was all about four weeks ago now.

Our home still has no power or internet. My mother works online, so we’re staying temporarily with my Aunt Angela here in Morganton.

The worst of this incident has passed. Road reconstruction has begun, and power and water have been restored in many areas.

Schools have already returned to their normal schedules in Burke County. My home school, Charles D. Owen High, and the rest of Buncombe County schools, opened on Friday, Oct. 25.

As in any long-lasting disaster, life has mostly fallen into a tenuous and dull routine as the slow cleanup and recovery proceeds. Now, it’s mostly the long-term questions on everyone’s minds.

Here in Burke County, the situation is undeniably better than farther out west. However, just like Buncombe, I’ve seen the parks, stores, and shopping malls here where the floodwaters came and left water damage and ruined contents behind, with no discrimination as to who or what it destroyed.

Many people are questioning what will come next, unsure if the same business owners will attempt to build again, or if land will be bought up for cheap by outside investors, or even simply left to decay in some cases.

Both Buncombe County and Burke County also had a main draw for visitors and tourists to the area essentially destroyed for the near future — Lake Lure and Lake James have had their marinas wiped out, lake-side attractions swept away, and their waters heavily polluted.

No matter how much you may roll your eyes at tourist season and all the crowds and sightseers it brings, Western North Carolina is undeniably an area that relies on it, and that money is needed more than ever in a situation like the one we are facing.

Right now, this region — whether it’s a part that almost feels back to normal or still has decimated roads and no clean drinking water — is living in an uncertain period where a vague notion of major economic and cultural change is undeniable, but still unforeseeable.

No matter who leaves or comes or abandons their travel plans here, the fact remains that there are still thousands of natives and permanent residents living in these mountains who will simply have to wait and see what the future brings and do their best to keep it akin to what existed before the storm — or even make it better.