Jay Price/WUNC Radio Early in the morning at the National Guard aviation facility in Salisbury, North Carolina, big fork trucks moved among rows of hulking Chinook transport choppers and smaller, more nimble Black Hawks. They loaded the helicopters with FEMA pallets of bottled water and emergency meals. Meanwhile, National Guard...

Jeff Brady & Liz Baker/WFAE Radio It’s election season, so maybe it’s no surprise that the federal response to damage in Hurricane Helene’s wake is a hot topic, especially on social media. However, some of the conspiracies, misinformation, and rumors that circulate are extraordinary. Enough so that the Federal Emergency...

Paul Woolverton/CityView Western Fayetteville residents whose private lakes and dams were damaged or destroyed in Hurricane Matthew in 2016 may continue their lawsuit over their losses against the City of Fayetteville, the N.C. Court of Appeals said in a ruling issued Tuesday. Superior Court William R. Pittman in 2023 had...

Moss Brennan/Watauga Democrat Officials in Watauga County are asking for a “pause” on unscheduled deliveries as they get organized with everything currently in the community. “We just want to start this off by saying thank you for the tremendous outpouring of support (and) monetary donations that you have shown our...

Galen Bacharier/NC Newsline In 2018, weeks after Hurricane Florence devastated coastal North Carolina, state lawmakers returned to Raleigh to approve almost $800 million total in emergency relief. Now, faced with unprecedented flooding and damage to the west from Hurricane Helene, the legislature appears set to do something very similar. The...

Jake Bittle/Grist Even as the full scale of devastation in the mountainous regions of North Carolina and Tennessee remains unknown, it’s clear that Hurricane Helene is one of the deadliest and most destructive storms in recent U.S. history. As of Friday, the storm had caused at least 180 deaths and...

Shaquira Speaks/Queen City News A Boone couple’s home is one of thousands destroyed by a landslide caused by Hurricane Helene. Just days after the storm hit, their insurance company canceled their homeowner’s policy — despite the couple not having landslide coverage or the company even selling it. Now the couple...

Emily Vespa/NC Health News While Helene tore through Boone, 20-year-old Mya McClarty braved the heavy downpour to get back to her apartment for her cat, Matcha. Floodwaters forced her to watch from higher ground as the muddy water swirled around her first floor apartment. She had slept at her partner’s...

Christopher Miller/Independent Tribune With Cabarrus County expected to continue being one of the fastest-growing counties in the state, having adequate capacity for wastewater, which is the lifeblood of the county, is absolutely critical. To prepare for the future, the Water and Sewer Authority of Cabarrus County (WSACC), which operates the...

Chantal Allam/The News & Observer Two tenants have leased 31,659 square feet of Class A ”top-of-the-line” office space at the Bank of America Tower in Raleigh’s North Hills. The newly inked deals include a new “large-footprint tenant” and a renewal and expansion of an existing tenant inside the 18-story, mixed-use...

John Boyle/Asheville Watchdog Twice in two decades, enormous transmission lines have washed out at North Fork Reservoir after torrential, hurricane-induced rain events, leaving city residents without water for days on end. In September 2004, a historic rain event spawned by a hurricane pummeled the Black Mountain and Swannanoa areas, causing...

Hannah Vinueza McClellan & Mebane Rash/Education NC As rescue and recovery efforts continue in western North Carolina after Hurricane Helene, the N.C. Department of Public Instruction (DPI) is coordinating a statewide response to support impacted schools — including 28 school districts, 459 local public schools, and 24 public charter schools....

Lisa Sorg/Inside Climate News Flooding from Hurricane Helene may have contaminated private wells for thousands of people in western North Carolina, and experts say residents should boil or test their water before drinking it, or even showering in it. Harmful bacteria, such as E. coli, is the primary concern. “That’s...

Allen G. Breed/The Associated Press The stone tower that gave this place its name was nearly a half billion years in the making — heated and thrust upward from deep in the Earth, then carved and eroded by wind and water. But in just a few minutes, nature undid most...

Emma Dill/WilmingtonBiz The city of Wilmington plans to apply for nearly $20 million in federal grant funding to help pay for the replacement of two bridges – one on Fourth Street and the other on Pine Grove Drive. The Wilmington City Council on Tuesday unanimously approved a resolution authorizing the...