Hurricane Helene: Black Mountain, Lake Lure face a long road back

Nine months after Hurricane Helene tore through the Southeast, the recovery process is just beginning. As communities rebuild their lives and towns, the Carolina Journal revisits some of the state’s hardest-hit areas to assess what recovery looks like, what’s still missing, and how far there is left to go.

Black Mountain

Josh Harold, the town manager for Black Mountain, North Carolina said the town sustained between $25 and $30 million in damaged assets and infrastructure. 

“It’s a slow process, and we’re going to keep working through that probably for the next number of years because I think it’s going to take that long,” said Harold. “At this point, we are continuing to work with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).” 

Harold said that they have a weekly meeting with FEMA officials. 

 “FEMA is going to be paying for architectural and engineering services for us, and I think for most towns, not just us,” said Harold.  “So that process and paperwork are underway, and we’re soliciting right now for those types of companies to put in bids for us. We hope within three to four weeks we’ll start making those selections and getting people on the ground beginning to do some design for us on our different projects, building reconstruction, to road construction, to greenways; just about anything you can think of, water system, a lot of different projects.” 

According to Harold, Black Mountain has received about $800,000 in FEMA funding. The town also received a $3 million zero-interest loan from the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) for a water system and a substantial stormwater project. Additionally, Black Mountain received just over $1 million in zero-interest loans from the cashflow loan program created in the Disaster Recovery Act of 2024.  

Harold explained that it boils down to funding; the town of Black Mountain has an annual budget of about $20 million. 

“We’re looking at a damage inventory of more than our annual budget,” said Harold. “I think the biggest struggle we’ve had up to this point has been just cash flow.”

He explained that the town spent about $3-4 million from its’ unassigned fund or “savings account,” essentially draining its’ savings account to fund post-Helene recovery. 

“As soon as we can get funding, we can start getting things done,” said Harold.

Lake Lure

“It’s just a lot slower than I thought it would be.” David DiOrio, Mayor Pro Tem for Lake Lure, told the Carolina Journal. “I mean it’s just the bureaucracy and the process is overwhelming, particularly for small western North Carolina towns.” 

DiOrio said that many small towns in western North Carolina are in touch and are all experiencing the same frustrations, which include a lack of infrastructure and staff to keep up with the bureaucratic requirements as things move forward. According to DiOrio, their primary point of contact is FEMA. DiOrio emphasized the difference between public assistance and private assistance, and in Lake Lure, they are primarily focused on public assistance. 

“The town infrastructure took a major hit, and that’s a whole different pillar of FEMA to work through,” said DiOrio.  “The mainstay of our problem was that some individuals were affected in Lake Lure, but the problem was the impact on our utilities and infrastructure, particularly our dams, so that’s what we’re focused on.” 

Lake Lure incurred $10 million in Emergency Protective Measures (EPM), the storm’s immediate impact cost. This includes the cost of debris removal and access to utilities so that people can live where they are. Out of that $10 million, the town of Lake Lure has received about $2.3 million in funds reimbursed by FEMA. The town of Lake Lure initially spent about $2.3 million from its’ capital reserve for debris removal and to get utilities back online. 

According to DiOrio, the much bigger number is hazard mitigation, which is estimated to cost about $300 million; this is the long-term cost of repairing the damages incurred. 

DiOrio said Lake Lure has about 30 active line items to help the town recover from Hurricane Helene. 

 “That’s everything from money towards the dam, wastewater collection, bridges that were washed out, and sedimentation removal from the lake,” said DiOrio. 

However, due to priorities and money from FEMA, only about 3 to 4 of these line items are progressing. 

DiOrio explained that FEMA needs to aggressively pursue the existing project line items in the system. Once those projects are green-lighted, does FEMA have enough money to cover the enormous expenses they will incur? Additionally, process improvements are needed for things to move forward. DiOrio said that things are moving; it’s just prolonged. 

“We just need to focus on helping us get to the point where we can normalize our day-to-day lives here, and that’s the challenge,” concluded DiOrio. 

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