Stalemate in Congress causes growing backlog of emergency aid loan applications in Helene-devastated North Carolina

By phone from her office, just steps from Main Street, the mayor of Brevard, North Carolina, shared the pain of the local businesses down the street. 

For example, the hand-crafted gift shop called "Local Color" is accustomed to thousands of dollars in sales during an average weekend, Mayor Maureen Copelof said. But during one weekend after Hurricane Helene, "All they sold was one bar of soap."

The nearby seafood restaurant was so inundated with water from the hurricane floods, Copelof said the owner initially told her, "I'm not even sure if I should try to rebuild."