Nearly two weeks since the storm, North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper discusses ongoing relief efforts to help those impacted by Hurricane Helene.
RALEIGH, N.C. — In North Carolina, more than 1,600 local and state search-and-rescue team members have been joined by about 1,700 members of the state National Guard to aid in the recovery from Hurricane Helene, according to Gov. Roy Cooper’s office.
Speaking Wednesday in Raleigh, Cooper and other state officials provided an update on the ongoing recovery efforts in western North Carolina.
Cooper said more than 50 water systems were destroyed or impaired by the storm and that the pace of restoring service varies by community. He said he couldn’t give a specific timeline but said the process might take longer in Asheville and Buncombe County, where at least six dozen people died.
Cooper has been visiting communities hit hard by Helene.
On Monday, he visited the towns of Chimney Rock and Lake Lure in Rutherford County, which both experienced devastating damage.
“We’re going to help western North Carolina come back,” Cooper said as he stood with Lake Lure’s mayor, Carol Pritchett. “It’s too important to our economy, to our state, not to do it.”
Pritchett told Cooper that the tiny town would need all the help it could get. Its sewer and wastewater treatment systems needed complete replacements, and the lake would have to be completely dredged. She estimated the costs would be in the tens of millions of dollars.
“We’re a town of 1,300; we certainly can’t do it on our own,” Pritchett said.
Without restoring major infrastructure, Pritchett said the tourism on which the town depends could not come back.
“The town’s name is Lake Lure. With no lake here, the ‘Lake Lure’ kind of begs the question,” she said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report
