Today (Thursday) marks six months since Hurricane Helene made landfall, moving through East Tennessee and causing unprecedented destruction and taking several lives.
According to the National Hurricane Center, 18 Tennesseans lost their lives at the hands of the storm. Helene, which swiftly became a tropical storm as it made landfall, dumped billions of gallons of rain across not only East Tennessee, but western North Carolina. All that water, whether directly from the storm or from runoff in the Great Smoky Mountains, caused record-breaking crests on waterways like the Pigeon River.
The flooding took not only lives, but infrastructure, businesses and homes with it.
Tennessee is still working to recover, overcoming one of the worst natural disasters in Tennessee’s history.
Just this month, rafting businesses in Hartford started taking guests on the Pigeon River again, bring to life the town’s largest economic driver.
Last week, the National Hurricane Center released its final report on the storm, tallying 249 lives lost at the hands of Helene.
Part of I-40 between Tennessee and North Carolina has reopened to traffic, with one lane in each direction at 35 miles per hour through the narrow lanes.
Hartford, a community in Cocke County known for rafting on the Pigeon River, was one of the hardest hit areas after the floods from Helene.
Ever since the flood, the clock has been ticking for companies to rebuild in time for this year’s season. Crews have faced endless setbacks from crumbling roads and even more unexpected flooding.
Two businesses have been able to reopen so far for this year’s season and several others are expected to open in the coming months.
Hartford Road and Trail Hallow Road are partially crumbled away, still looking the same way they did when Helene initially swept through which is affecting some outfitters.
Cocke County Mayor Rob Mathis told WVLT News the county’s highway department is actively working on road projects. He says they need to get design plans approved and secure funding through the state and federal level and says some projects are long-term. He says he hopes all roads will be ready for the 2026 rafting season.
The City of Erwin in Unicoi County is showing some real progress as it works to rebuild after Helene’s devastating floods.
It’s been six months since storms started moving through the area, paving the way for Helene to dump billions of gallons of water on East Tennessee and western North Carolina.
Helene’s waters caused the Nolichucky River to take away people’s livelihoods and even lives.
Riverview Baptist Church suffered some serious damage at the hands of Helene, but the church plans to open its doors for Easter service.
The Tennessee Department of Transportation has been working hard repairing and rebuilding roads across East Tennessee after massive flooding caused by Hurricane Helene destroyed numerous roads, bridges and interstates.
Crews have been working on crunch-time for the last six months to get these roads and interstates back open .
Mark Nagi with TDOT tells our news partner WVLT that of the 49 sections of roadway that were closed, which includes bridges that were destroyed, 44 roadways are now reopened.
TDOT recently celebrated I-40’s reopening, at least in part. The state has cleared one lane of the interstate on the Tennessee side of the Great Smoky Mountains. North Carolina crews have seen similar success, opening one lane of the interstate across the state line.
TDOT has been getting some help from the state and federal governments to speed up the process as much as possible.
In the six months since Helene swept through East Tennessee, Mountain Ways has been giving out money to those most affected.
Lori Moore is the executive director at Mountain Ways. She says the organization had donated more than $2.5 million to more than 500 families who lost their homes to Helene in Tennessee and North Carolina.
Individuals aren’t the only ones getting a hand from Mountain Ways, however. Tuesday, the group awarded grants to six volunteer fire departments in Cocke County that had lost gear in Helene’s floods. Hope House, another group which has been giving tiny homes to those in need, also received some help from Mountain Ways.
If you’re interested in giving to Mountain Ways, please go to http://www.mtnways.org.
