Resilience
Tropical Storm Helene left a path of destruction across the mountain communities of Western North Carolina one year ago. At this milestone, people are grateful for how far they have come as they remember the storm and continue to rebuild homes and lives. (Jonathan Drake, Reuters | OSV News)
ASHEVILLE — One year after Helene devastated Western North Carolina, signs of recovery are everywhere – from rebuilt roads and bridges, to refurbished homes, to revived workplaces. Yet scars remain, too.
Piles of debris trigger traumatic memories. Shuttered storefronts stand eerily next to reopened shops and restaurants. The tourist-driven economy remains soft, and mudslides and flood waters have left their marks.
Reflecting in advance of the storm’s Sept. 27 anniversary, Asheville Catholic School’s Principal Melissa Stuart says: “It is not a celebration – it’s more of an emotional remembrance. While there is a lot to celebrate, people are still traumatized. A lot of areas still look like they did right after the storm.”
Stuart’s school families were relieved last month to kick off a new year quietly. This time last year, kids were out of school for nearly a month after the storm, much of that time without power and water.
For Father Patrick Cahill, who pastored Asheville’s St. Eugene Parish through the storm, the anniversary is a time for reflection: “It will be a day of remembrance sort of like 9/11 – just kind of taking in the impact of all that happened. It will also be a day of thanksgiving. Thanksgiving to God for His grace and for all the people who have come to our assistance.”
In Swannanoa, generally considered “ground zero” for Helene, leaders at St. Margaret Mary Parish discussed what type of anniversary event felt appropriate. A celebration? A shared meal?
They ultimately decided on three hours of Eucharistic Adoration in the church so that parishioners could grieve and offer gratitude before the Blessed Sacrament.
“It’s a big day in many people’s lives and memories,” says Father John Allen, who was reassigned from Charlotte in July to serve as St. Margaret Mary’s pastor. He spent weeks visiting parishioners – including Marisol Mireles, who survived flood waters by clinging to a tree – trying to absorb the depth of the storm’s impact.
“I know there is a deep sense of gratitude to God for all the people who have assisted in relief efforts, from the first responders to the volunteers to the neighbors who have helped them to weather this horrific event,” Father Allen says. “A quiet moment of Adoration will give people a chance to thank God for all the ways their lives are being rebuilt – physically and spiritually.”
‘Climbing a mountain’
As the floodwaters swept through mountain towns and rose to the rooftops, many homeowners had to be rescued by boats, canoes and kayaks. An estimated 1 in 5 Catholics living in the Diocese of Charlotte reside in the 25 counties initially designated federal disaster areas after the storm. At least 20 of the diocese’s 93 churches were affected. The widespread impact was a call to action for the rest of the diocese to help in any way possible.
More than $13.3 million poured into the diocese’s Helene Relief Fund over the past year from donors around the world. From its Pastoral Center in Charlotte and parishes across the western half of North Carolina, the diocese launched the largest humanitarian effort in its history – which continues today.
It responded first by providing basic necessities, by the truckload, creating a hub-and-spoke network that transformed mountain churches and schools into relief centers. The diocese then shifted to long-term recovery efforts through its Catholic Charities agency.
Helene claimed the lives of 108 people in North Carolina and caused more than $44 billion in damages. Recovery will take years.
“Nobody thought a hurricane could climb a mountain,” says Jesse Boeckermann, Catholic Charities’ western regional director in Asheville.
The agency had never faced such a disaster, says Gerry Carter, president and CEO of Catholic Charities. The agency had to transform itself to deliver services that were so desperately needed – targeting especially people who had little or no insurance or access to other resources.
It was a challenge for Catholic Charities’ staff, some of whom had homes themselves that were flooded or badly damaged.
“We had to figure out how to operate and help hundreds and thousands of people while our own homes didn’t have utilities and we were trying to survive day to day,” Boeckermann recalls.
Somehow, Catholic Charities staffer Noele Aabye helped orchestrate a boat rescue and the relocation of 40 refugees from Asheville to Charlotte – despite the personal trauma she’d experienced when a tree fell into her dining room, narrowly missing her family.
Within a month of Helene, Catholic Charities began hiring a dozen disaster case managers to ramp up the painstaking work of long-term recovery. They’d already partnered with more than 117 organizations to help storm survivors, building relationships at the grassroots level. Today, Catholic Charities has assigned the equivalent of 20 staff to working disaster relief.
The agency initially assisted the diocese in securing and distributing supplies to thousands of people. Over the year, it provided one-on-one assistance to more than 1,700 households, including financial support, restorations of 110 homes, rent and temporary lodging payments, vehicle repairs and replacement, and burial costs for needy families who lost loved ones in the storm.
The agency focuses on helping survivors find jobs, navigate housing and financial needs, and in some cases find mental health and spiritual counseling.
Case workers are collaborating in “long-term recovery groups” in some of the hardest hit – and most difficult to access – areas, including Chimney Rock and Bat Cave.
“These are organizations that already know the community” and understand the importance of listening to community concerns, rather than prescribing solutions, says Disaster Program
Supervisor Neal Foster, who lived through the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
“There are people who weren’t able to get help from insurance or FEMA,” Foster says. “These are areas where topography makes rebuilding much harder than other regions. People can’t access driveways that might serve 40 homes. Some people can’t rebuild because the floodplain is now in a different place.”
Parishes ‘couldn’t stop’
Volunteers unload supplies Oct. 3, 2024, at Immaculata Catholic School in Hendersonville. Supply centers were lifelines in the early recovery. Individuals, parishes and Catholic schools have also continued relief efforts throughout the year.
Within hours of the storm, St. Mark parishioners in Huntersville gathered and delivered basic supplies for airlifts and convoys to the mountains.
Within days, Father Richard Sutter and volunteers from St. Gabriel Parish in Charlotte were on the ground in Swannanoa.
Catholic schools outside the disaster area became collection points for supplies, while those within the disaster zone focused on bringing back normal structures for students – yet also providing room to process the trauma and disruption of the storm.
Asheville Catholic School launched “Wellness Wednesdays” shortly after students returned, to demonstrate healthy ways of dealing with emotional stress through art and conversation. By spring, students were testing at expected growth levels.
Still, the new school year brought sadness over the loss of five teachers whose families had to relocate due to job loss and other storm impacts.
In Mars Hill, St. Andrew the Apostle Parish still operates a food pantry on Wednesdays, born out of the months it served as a vital supply hub for the community.
“There are still people out there trying to come back, still pockets of land that are devastated,” says parish secretary Kelly Hansen. “Many of the folks we see are poor, they didn’t have insurance, and they’re still trying to get back on their feet. A lot of their jobs are gone because businesses were wiped out. People that aren’t from around here might not understand what we’re seeing. We got through the first year, but we’re not over it.”
Deacon Daren Bitter from St. Matthew Parish worked from his home in Charlotte, coordinating air drops of supplies to people stranded in areas of Yancey and Mitchell counties where roads had washed out.
“I started the work right after the storm and was still at it two months later,” Deacon Bitter recalls. “At times I broke down because of the emotions from what we were hearing about, but I knew I couldn’t stop.”
Catholic groups of volunteers have also continued to serve, including the Knights of Columbus from Holy Spirit Parish in Denver. They made dozens of trips to far-flung rural communities delivering building supplies and heaters in the winter months.
Although the diocese’s churches mostly escaped damage, their parishioners were struggling. As a result, Bishop Michael Martin established a “Sister Parish Program” to help parishes in the disaster zone replace declining offertories so they could continue their operations and outreach. The program paired parishes in the central and eastern parts of the diocese with those in the west, raising more than $466,000.
“The donations from our sister parishes helped us to help some of our parishioners in more rural areas to repair their homes,” says Father Adrian Porras, pastor at St. Barnabas Parish in Arden. “We were able to help with food donations and distribute some financial assistance not only to parishioners, but people in need in the community.”
‘Value of suffering’
In the days after the storm, Catholics came together to provide food and supplies to those who lacked power, water and basic necessities. Coping with the trauma from Helene is a focal point.
“There are people around here who still get scared every time it rains,” says Father Christopher Bond, pastor of St. Lucien Parish in Spruce Pine, where flooding destroyed the town’s brick riverfront.
Many are dealing with a maze of paperwork and phone calls and frustrations, he says, as they try to rebuild their homes and lives.
“A couple of the families we help are having problems finding people to come out and do the work they need,” says Father Bond, also pastor of St. Bernadette Mission in Linville. “They’re dealing with property line issues and permits – so much red tape.”
Gregory Stewart is one of those frustrated parishioners. His house took on five feet of water from Linville River flooding. “We’re moving along slowly, and right now, we’re insulating the house,” he says. “It’s been a struggle to secure funds. Our main help has come from our parish.”
Father Cahill acknowledges he, too, feels stress when it rains.
“There was a storm in Charlotte that kind of freaked me out,” says Father Cahill, who was recently reassigned as pastor of St. Matthew. “We have a creek behind the rectory and I found myself wondering what buildings the water might wash away.”
At ground zero, St. Margaret Mary Parish brought in trauma counselors for both English and Spanish speakers, a resource that continues today.
Clients initially reported a wide variety of symptoms including flashbacks, trouble sleeping, and general anxiety about threatening weather, says Nancy Hartman, a licensed clinical mental health counselor.
A year later, she says many have made significant progress, although they are “understandably tired from a year of digging out from under the rubble of their lives, both literally and figuratively.”
Swannanoa still has no grocery store, post office or city park.
“They say that although the hurricane will always be there, they see how they were also blessed with so much afterward,” Hartman says. “Support of family and colleagues, a new understanding of themselves and their ability to thrive in difficulty, and especially a deeper understanding of the tremendous value of suffering, as well as an increase in their gratitude for every little good thing.”
— Christina Lee Knauss. Liz Chandler contributed.
More online
Learn how donations and prayers are helping rebuild and restore Western North Carolina.
Helene by the numbers
Catholic Charities Diocese of Charlotte and parishes swung into action immediately (above left) delivering water and supplies to distribution centers and then over the long term by working to rebuild homes damaged by the storm.
Helene’s impact
25 North Carolina counties declared federal disaster areas
4.1 million people in disaster zones
1 in 5 Catholics in the Diocese of Charlotte impacted
73,000 damaged homes
6,900+ roads and bridges destroyed
$44.4 billion in direct damage, billions more in economic impact
The response*
$13.3 million raised for Catholic Charities Diocese of Charlotte
10,263 gifts from 5 continents and all 50 states
$1.1 million from parish second collections in the Diocese of Charlotte
1,000+ volunteers
46 schools held emergency supply drives
1,700+ households received support, including 289 months of rent paid, 20 vehicles, 17 burials paid for
110 homes rebuilt and 35 more under contract
$10,386,781 expected to be spent by end of 2025-2026 fiscal year, with balance funding future long-term needs
$250,000 committed to the economic redevelopment of the River Arts District
*as of July 30, 2025
Helene day by day
Helene left a path of destruction across the hemisphere. Follow the path of the storm from its origins over Honduras through Western North Carolina.
Sept. 20-22, 2024
Over Honduras and Nicaragua, a sprawling low-pressure system drenches the land before turning north. It’s slow and broad, not yet a tropical cyclone, but the National Hurricane Center expects it will be soon.
Monday, Sept. 23, 2024
The system moves into the northwest Caribbean, and a center begins to form.
Tuesday, Sept. 24, 2024
Near Cuba’s western tip, it becomes Tropical Storm Helene, with winds topping 45 mph.
Wednesday, Sept. 25, 2024
- Crossing Cozumel and Cancun, Helene enters the Gulf and strengthens into a Category 1 hurricane.
- In Asheville, heavy rain has already dropped 4 inches by midnight as a line of slow-moving showers saturates the ground.
- Based on forecasts, N.C. Gov. Roy Cooper declares a state of emergency.
Thursday, Sept. 26, 2024
- Helene rapidly intensifies over warm Gulf waters, becoming a Category 4 hurricane with 140-mph winds and making landfall near Perry, Florida, at 11:10 p.m. – the strongest strike in 125 years of recordkeeping.
- Meanwhile, a stalled stormfront dumps more rain all day in western North Carolina: 9 inches in Yancey County alone. Power fails in Chimney Rock and Lake Lure, and shelters open in Avery, Buncombe and McDowell counties. And the rains are just beginning.
Friday, Sept. 27, 2024
- Though weakened to a tropical storm, Helene speeds across Georgia toward the Carolinas. In Rome, newly ordained Bishop Michael Martin keeps up with forecasts as half his diocese lies in her path.
- Helene’s gusty winds and heavy rains uproot trees, overload saturated ground and trigger landslides. Rivers including the Watauga, Pigeon, North Toe and French Broad swell past flood stage; downstream systems like the Catawba also face severe flooding. In Asheville, the Swannanoa River surges to a record 27.33 feet within hours.
- Low-lying areas – in which so many communities sit – fill up. Fast. Riverside homes, businesses and vehicles wash completely away. Stranded residents will soon need to be pulled to safety by helicopters, boats, kayaks and canoes.
- Two St. Margaret Mary parishioners are swept away by the swollen Swannanoa but, after harrowing moments, are fortunate to survive. Gabriel Gonzales, an Asheville area parishioner also caught by the river’s current, goes missing and is later found dead.
- In Asheville, Biltmore Village floods – including a hotel complex where Catholic Charities refugees live. Catholic Charities staffer Noele Aabye narrowly escapes a tree falling on her own house before helping to rescue the refugees and relocating them to Charlotte.
- A wall of water rockets down the Broad River, overtops Lake Lure Dam and obliterates Chimney Rock. “The village? There’s just nothing left,” an emergency manager later says.
- Mudslides take out roads including stretches of I-40, severing access to much of western North Carolina and isolating victims from rescuers. Electricity, water, phone and internet are out across the region.
- Helene dumps up to 2 feet of rain and spawns six tornadoes before shifting northwest into Tennessee and Kentucky.
- Local officials describe “biblical devastation.” Calls and texts for help begin reaching diocesan leaders back east.
Parishioners from St. Mark Church in Huntersville drove donated supplies to the Statesville airport to be airlifted to the hardest-hit regions just hours after the storm had passed.
Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024
- Western North Carolina reels. Gov. Cooper calls it “one of the worst storms in modern history” for parts of the state: dozens of people dead and hundreds more missing, 400 roads closed or washed away, riverside business districts and neighborhoods devastated. President Joe Biden declares much of Western North Carolina a federal major disaster area, triggering FEMA help.
- Despite no electricity, Father Pat Cahill celebrates the vigil Mass by candlelight at St. Eugene in Asheville, offering prayer and solace to those able to make it in.
- Western Regional Director Jesse Boeckermann and the whole Catholic Charities team go into overdrive – including colleagues in Asheville whose own homes were severely damaged by the storm.
A drone view shows the scale of damage in one section of Asheville Sept. 29, 2024, after Tropical Storm Helene.
Sunday, Sept. 29, 2024
- Duke Energy outage maps report 396,000 customers in North Carolina and 508,000 in South Carolina without electricity.
- Immaculata Catholic School’s Principal Margaret Beale is finally able to call through to Dan Ward at the diocese’s Properties Office. “There is damage everywhere. Trees are down. Houses and roads are washed away. There is no power – and no water,” she tells Ward. He later recalls, “It wasn’t just what she said – it was how she said it.”
n Bishop Martin prepares to return early from Rome and, with Monsignor Patrick Winslow already leading on the ground in Charlotte, directs pastors, Catholic Charities and the faithful to “get people what they need – now.” - Over half the diocese lies within the federal disaster zone, including 20 churches directly impacted. Built on high ground, the church buildings are mostly unscathed although have no power or water. Over the coming days, many are converted into emergency aid centers.
- In Huntersville, some 400 St. Mark parishioners and others rush supplies of diapers, nonperishable goods and water to Hendersonville and Waynesville. Joining St. Mark, St. Gabriel, St. James in Concord, St. Matthew and other Charlotte-area parishes spin up additional relief efforts.
- Diocesan staff and Catholic Charities start marshaling donations of food and water at the Diocesan Pastoral Center. By Sunday afternoon, a truckload of bottled water arrives at Immaculata Catholic School, where Beale and others have set up a relief supply hub in the gym despite the school suffering storm damage of its own.
- Over the next five weeks, volunteers deliver 67 trucks carrying more than 480,000 pounds of supplies from the Diocesan Pastoral Center alone – the largest humanitarian relief effort in the diocese’s history.
Bishop Michael Martin prays with people Oct. 4, 2024, outside St. Margaret Mary Church in Swannanoa.
Monday, Sept. 30, 2024
The diocese and Catholic Charities launch a Helene Relief Fund for online donations, eventually raising $13.3 million from more than 10,200 donors in every U.S. state as well as six other countries.
Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2024
- Buncombe County’s sheriff confirms 43 deaths in his county – the most of any community hit by Helene.
- Catholic Charities USA dispatches several tractor-trailer loads of water to Western North Carolina, sends an initial $1 million for immediate disaster relief, and begins helping Catholic Charities Diocese of Charlotte coordinate with sister agencies in Raleigh, Virginia, Louisiana and elsewhere to start scaling up for long-term aid work. CCUSA will eventually donate another $2.2 million.
Wednesday, Oct. 2, 2024
- More than 350,000 North Carolinians remain without power, as search-and-rescue efforts and supply airlifts continue. Diocesan trucks funnel supplies up to Immaculata Catholic School and other drop sites as those who can get out of the mountains fill vehicles and ATVs one at a time to carry back to their more remote or trapped neighbors.
- Starting with a delivery from the diocese, St. Margaret Mary Church begins handing out food, water, diapers and other necessities in a community relief effort that will go on for months. Similar aid hubs are busy at churches in Mars Hill, Brevard, Asheville, Waynesville, Spruce Pine and elsewhere.
Catholic Charities formed relationships with community partners to help rebuild houses. Supply chains in many areas are still far from normal.
Friday, Oct. 4, 2024
Bishop Martin visits the aid hubs at Immaculata in Hendersonville and St. Margaret Mary in Swannanoa, delivering more supplies from Charlotte and telling people “you are not alone.”
Sunday, Oct. 6, 2024
The first weekend after the storm, churches across the diocese take up a special collection to help affected parishes and fund Catholic Charities’ initial aid efforts. Churches in the storm-hit region offer Sunday Masses as usual despite no electricity.
Priests blessed supplies headed toward the mountains in the early days, and continued to provide spiritual and financial support to those impacted.
Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2024
- Catholic Charities serves more than 10,000 people at its distribution sites in the first two weeks, including mobile deliveries and home check-ins. Forty-seven tons of supplies are given out and 5,000 hot meals are provided. The agency secures warehouse space through a partnership with the Knights of Columbus and continues to receive supplies for the affected areas.
- Over the coming months, Catholic Charities adds 12 disaster case workers to its existing team in Western North Carolina to survey storm damage and start organizing long-term recovery work. With 20 staff focused on Helene relief efforts, the agency connects with 400 people by Nov. 1 to start providing help.
Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024
The Sister Parish program launches, pairing 31 unimpacted parishes with 21 WNC churches in need of long-term financial and spiritual support.
Wednesday, Oct. 16, 2024
Classes resume at Immaculata Catholic School, thanks in part to clean-up help from Charlotte Catholic High School students. Students and staff from Asheville Catholic School briefly share the school with them until the city’s water system can be restored and their school building can reopen.
Saturday, Nov. 2, 2024
Instead of going on retreat, Campus Ministry students go to Asheville to help out with relief efforts.
Tuesday, Nov. 19, 2024
Bishop Martin returns to Immaculata Catholic School and the region to survey recovery efforts.
Tuesday, Dec. 31, 2024
Second collections taken up by parishes raise $466,954 for the Sister Parish program.
March 19, 2025
In total, says a National Hurricane Center report released this day, 250 people died because of Helene, counting direct and indirect deaths along her more-than-500-mile path. In North Carolina, the storm kills more than 100 people and causes damages exceeding $44 billion.
March 27, 2025
In the first six months, Catholic Charities spends $5.1 million of the Helene Relief Fund to provide direct assistance to 1,162 households and rebuild 53 homes, with another $5 million committed to rebuild more homes and handle case management and $2.2 million set aside for long-term recovery.
March 28, 2025
While clearing debris in Avery County, workers find the remains of Russell Wilber – bringing North Carolina’s death toll from Helene to 108. The Raleigh News & Observer reports five people remain missing.
March 29, 2025
Following Catholic Charities rebuilding work, Allen Campos Trailer Park in Swannanoa holds a reopening celebration as residents begin moving back into rebuilt homes.
Bishop Michael Martin visited with students at Asheville Catholic School Sept. 12 to start the school year, offer Mass for the school community, and learn more about how Helene continues to impact them one year later.
Sept. 27, 2025
At the one-year mark, the long work of rebuilding lives and the region’s economy continues.
Mental recovery is a journey for survivors
In the months after Helene ravaged Western North Carolina, victims were able to access free mental health services through the Hurricane Relief Fund. Nancy Hartman, a licensed clinical mental health counselor, worked with many people traumatized by the horrors they witnessed.
“By the time survivors were able to get into counseling more than two months after the hurricane, they were initially still in a kind of mental/emotional daze,” Hartman said.
“Clients experienced symptoms of not sleeping well, worsening medical conditions, low motivation, fear and a variety of flashbacks such as (hearing) screams and (seeing) bodies floating down the river,” Hartman reported. Other reactions included crying, poor concentration, feelings of being lost and anxious during storms.
Many symptoms – such as nightmares and anxiety about how to recover financially and what to tackle first – still linger, she said.
“Some clients had compounded grief, because of the death of a loved one or of friends that also occurred alongside the many losses associated with the hurricane,” she said.
Hartman worked to address the trauma before it could escalate into PTSD, using grief charting and calming techniques, and when appropriate, faith.
“If my clients are people of faith, we use that as a springboard for everything because it’s a foundation of who they are,” she said. “All of my clients after Helene have wanted to address their faith and to tap into their faith as a place of strength.”
Hartman, who is Catholic, draws on Scripture and tradition to help Catholic clients and asks if they have a favorite devotion or saint who especially helps them.
“Faith has been a very big part of what has helped my clients get through this, and I encourage them to use their faith and call upon it,” she said.
Today, Hartman said, patients are at different stages of recovery. “Many are understandably tired from a year of digging out from under the rubble of their lives, both literally and figuratively. In fact, seeing the rubble and destruction that still remains in their neighborhood and places they drive has been an anxiety trigger for many.”
Hartman said some clients initially felt guilty for focusing on themselves or for receiving support, but many now look at what they have rebuilt with a sense of relief and hope.
“They say that although the hurricane will always be there, they see how they were also blessed with so much afterward: support of family and colleagues, a new understanding of themselves and their ability to thrive in difficulty and, especially, a deeper understanding of the tremendous value of suffering as well as an increase in their gratitude for every little good thing,” she said.
“They have come to appreciate themselves more as they have exercised resilience in the face of trauma, grief and loss.”
