The superlatives are not the kind we like to see, but they are the ones that the remnants of Hurricane Helene delivered to portions of the southern Appalachians.
Of the Blue Ridge Parkway, the 469-mile “America’s Scenic Drive” along the Virginia and North Carolina Blue Ridge, the Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation asserted that the roadway faces “the most tremendous challenges since the first crew broke ground in 1935.”
As in tens of thousands of trees across the road and long sections of pavement washed away.
Of the Appalachian National Scenic Trail, the 2,190-mile path from Georgia to Maine, the Appalachian Trail Conference identified the storm as “the largest natural disaster in the history of the trail.”
As in well over 100 miles of the trail still being closed a month after the storm, with sections in North Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia still awaiting full assessment toward ATC’s commitment to “rehabilitate the trail and landscape, no matter how long it takes.”
Of star mountain city Asheville, North Carolina, its dozens of deaths and vast destruction, the Asheville Citizen Times wrote of “the worst flooding since the 1916 flood.”
As in complete Asheville neighborhoods and nearby towns in Buncombe and surrounding communities being washed fully away.
There are countless other tragedies from across the mountain regions of Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee and South Carolina, all the result of up to 31 inches (at a spot in Yancey County, North Carolina), over September 25-27, sending the region’s rivers to record levels of flooding and destruction.
Our sympathies are immense, our responses limited by realities. Please find in this issue a small bouquet to flood victims in the form of the reprint of a column from our former award-winning writer, Elizabeth Hunter. And in our travel guide for 2025, a set of contacts to offer help.
And last, a tiny bright spot in the form of Marla Milling’s telling of the survival of one old artifact within the terrible flooding.
Our fervent hopes and admiration to all in continued recovery.
The story above first appeared in our January / February 2025 issue.
