Nine months after Hurricane Helene: Still mud and mess, but a powerful lesson in small-town resilience

Korey Hampton sees progress every day as she works along the French Broad River. But, nine months after Hurricane Helene, there are still painful reminders and flashbacks.

Korey Hampton sees progress every day as she works along the French Broad River. But, nine months after Hurricane Helene, there are still painful reminders and flashbacks. “I still see piles and I wonder if there is somebody in it,” Hampton said. “I still smell smells and think I should go look at that pile. It’s hard to switch back to the, ‘Oh, everything is fun. No big deal.’” Hampton is trying. She and her husband, Mitch, own French Broad Adventures, an outdoor activity company that offers rafting, ziplining and more in Western North Carolina. The river is her office, and her source of income and joy. Tourists are drawn here for the postcard views. The Appalachian Trail winds through the mountains above; the French Broad River below is a rafting and kayaking playground. But the Hamptons are also volunteers for the local raft rescue squad. When the floodwaters came after the hurricane, it meant days of exhausting rescues. Then weeks of worse: recovering bodies. “It painted the river in a new light for me, right?” Hampton said. “Normally, we are taking tourists out. Families, school groups, wedding parties. Everybody’s out here to have a good time. But for that amount of time I was here doing, we were all here, doing gruesome work. … So, I’m getting there, but it’s going to take a while.”