Home Care In Marshall, NC

WFMY News 2 spoke to two business owners who said they wouldn't have recovered if not for the support of their community.

MARSHALL, N.C. — Eleven months ago, National Guard military vehicles were the norm around Marshall. Today, they've been replaced by skateboards and other small symbols that the small town in western North Carolina is bouncing back nearly a year after Hurricane Helene devastated the area.

Chris Worley manages Shady Side Florist, the town's only floral shop. We first met him a month after Helene hit, as he sifted through what was left of his livelihood.

"All of our materials, all of our stations, all of our equipment — 50 years of business was gone overnight," Whorley said.

Now, he says business is close to where it used to be before the storm. One of the last pieces will happen this week when contractors finish repairing the front of his shop.

Whorley says he wouldn't be where he is today without the help of volunteers.

"We've had volunteers come from probably just about every state on this side of the Mississippi, and some on the other side, come in and work in the mud and help," Whorley told WFMY News 2.

The last 11 months have been just as overwhelming for Hollie West. After Helene ripped apart her brick-and-mortar restaurant in downtown Marshall, she decided to reopen her business as a food truck.

"The dump trucks, the people that came to help, the skid steers, the big equipment, it was worth crying over because so many people just came to help and continue to do, which is absolutely amazing," West said.

Many of the buildings along the French Broad River took the brunt of Helene when the storm hit last September. But everywhere you look, life is returning. And it's permanently changing the people who live here.

"We all kind of knew each other ... but when you're wading through two feet of mud, so you're busted out buildings and everybody's in the same shape, in the same boat, it's a real gatherer of people," Whorley said.

Hurricane Helene devastated Western North Carolina one year ago, but recovery efforts continue in the small Rollins community in Marshall, NC.

MARSHALL, N.C. — This week marks one year since Hurricane Helene hit Western North Carolina and parts of East Tennessee, changing lives forever.

The Rollins community is one of the areas hit hard. It's a small, one-street neighborhood in the town of Marshall, North Carolina. About 800 people live in Marshall, which sits on the banks of the French Broad River.

Jennifer Greene grew up along the river on Rollins Road.

“You could not just look out and just see the river,” Greene said. “You would have the trees and then we kept them groomed down or undergrowth so you could see the river.”

But when Helene swept through, that view changed forever as the riverbanks were forced to widen with the force of the floodwater. Greene was on vacation at the beach when floodwaters rose.

“And then my daughter calls and says, ‘Mama, it's in your house,'" she remembered.

The storm devastated the Rollins community, where Greene’s family has lived for generations.

“Who knew when we came home that so much would be gone? All I could think of is, ‘What are we going to do? I don't know where to begin,'” she reflected.

But thankfully, Greene said she didn't have to wait long to figure it out. Volunteers from across the country came into the area to help almost immediately.

“It was a ground swell of community response that formalized over the next few months,” said Daria Uporsky, the recovery director for Madison Alliance for Rebuilding Communities (MARC), the county's longterm recovery group.

“Now I have an experience in my life where I watch a movie with, like, a war scene in it…and I feel like I can relate to that," Uporsky explained about the storm's immediate aftermath. "It felt like a bomb had gone off."

Uporsky described thick mud caked everywhere, helicopters flying overhead, army vehicles stretched down the road, "lines of hungry people standing outside the grocery store that would not open and lines of people waiting for gasoline at gas stations that didn't have any gas."

Despite the devastation, Uporsky says the community banded together.

“You felt like everybody you've ever seen at the grocery store was on the streets helping in some way. So it was amazing. And we were all in shock, you know?" Uporsky described. "It felt normal and it felt…it felt normal in the sense that this is just what we do. This is just what we do for each other."

Now a year later, Uporsky said she is proud of both the progress and the way her community came together.

“There's a sense of closeness and pride that comes with that," she said. "I remember feeling after the hurricane for a long time, and I think that this is a permanent feeling that is with me to stay, where I felt so proud to be right here, right now, even though it was devastated. The amount of pride that you develop from going through disaster with community members is like nothing else I've ever experienced.”

Now, Uporsky says the cleanup is complete. That doesn't mean the work is finished, however, as rebuilding is the next priority.

“We just have a long way to go,” Uporsky shared. “It's taken a while to get the money we need to rebuild.”

She said funding is just now starting to reach the area. Whether it's families waiting on FEMA appeal determination or the state's program roll outs or money from grant applications, Uporsky says locals are patiently and eagerly looking to receive money.

The highest priority, Uporsky says, is to make sure neighbors living in campers or displaced in rental homes stay warm this fall and winter season. To make that possible, Uporsky says they need help from skilled volunteers.

“We have so many projects that just simply aren't about, like, shoveling out basements anymore and sort of like that low to mid skill level," Uporsky shared. "So we really, really are desperate for skilled volunteers coming with project leadership, experienced project leadership. Our project leaders are run ragged right now trying to oversee so many different projects and make sure that the work that's being carried out is being done in a good way so that we don't have to come back and redo it and that the homeowner’s happy.”

Uporsky says several families are hoping for rebuilding after hundresds of landslides "took houses out in a second." Not only did the flooding and landslides sweep away entire houses, but the heavy rain also damaged homes that are still standing.

“In southern Appalachia you've got a lot of low income neighborhoods and communities, and a lot of homes in our county that have deferred maintenance because the household is, you know, low income and is putting repairs off on their, you know, on their double wide or something like that,” Uporsky detailed. “Well then the hurricane comes and they're not in a flood plain and they didn't get taken out by a landslide – thank God – but just the sheer amount of rain permeated the roof and their house is a total loss...the walls are saturated, and the kids are sleeping on soaking wet pillows every time it rains.”

Greene said four families in Rollins are still waiting to have their homes rebuilt. While Greene's house is still standing, she says the storm caused damage to the property's foundation, causing it to lean. Recently, she met with a local pastor, who told Greene She recently learned hers will be one of them after a local pastor said a group wanted to help Greene.

“I got chills. And I just, I didn't know what to say," Greene said, tearing up. "There will be a sign that says ‘A House that God Built’ because I didn't. I just had faith."

That faith is what Greene says has gotten her through.

“I've always believed God does things for a reason. And I was listening to a pastor on the radio going somewhere and he made the comment. He says, ‘I think that God did this to see if we still cared about each other," Greene shared. "And I firmly believe that too is that do we still care enough and love each other enough to help each other? And I can say amen, yes we do or we would not be where we're at right now. If it wasn't for my faith…I don't know what people do without faith."

While she says remaining patient has been the hardest part of the recovery process so far, Greene says life is slowly returning to normal.

“When we started seeing the grass come back and the trees start leafing again…That's when it felt like it was going to be OK and it's going to be normal again, yeah, but it's not totally normal,” Greene explained. “It will never be totally normal because we lost so much land on the riverbank and trees.”

As the French Broad River flows along its widened bank, the Rollins community continues to push forward and adjust to a new normal. If you'd like to help out by donating time, resources or money, you can visit MadisonARC.org.