A Long Road: The Journey Back from Hurricane Helene
Watch this moving documentary created by WLOS.
Six months after Helene tore through the mountains, many are still working to put the pieces back together and make sense of what happened.
On September 26, 2024, Hurricane Helene made landfall in the Big Bend region of Florida. Multiple days of heavy rains preceded Helene in Western North Carolina leaving the ground extremely saturated; lakes, rivers, and creeks rose to higher-than-normal levels.
Western North Carolinians braced but could not have imagined what they’d see when Helene tore through the mountains.
More than 100 people were killed due to Hurricane Helene and several are still missing as the region grapples with the lasting impacts of the storm. The sense of safety, in the normally comforting mountains and valleys, disappeared with businesses, homes, and lost loved ones.
In the early days, when communication with the outside world all but disappeared, the region survived because neighbors helped their neighbors. Today, it’s still happening. With every road repaved, bridge rebuilt, and home repaired, Western North Carolinians are facing adversity together.
The journey back from Helene is a long road and it’s far from over.
See more coverage on WLOS’s YouTube channel, www.youtube.com/@ABC13Channel.
