AVERY COUNTY, N.C. (QUEEN CITY NEWS) — Stranded and cut-off.
Mountain communities still rebuilding after Hurricane Helene are now facing another setback after a rainstorm washed away temporary bridges built in the weeks following Helene.
While Sunday’s storm didn’t come as a surprise to people living in Avery County, its emotional toll did.
“Just hearing the creeks and the rivers raging again, it was hard,” Robin Ollis said. “It just brought back everything.”
In the days and weeks following Helene, Ollis launched a volunteer group called ‘Bridges for Avery’. The group helped build temporary bridges for residents who were stranded along the North Toe River in Newland.
“It was kind of like a dam,” Jaimie Hopson said while pointing at the water bridge to her house.” The last time I walked through it, it was like mid-calf.”
Since it was constructed, Hopson and her family used their temporary bridge daily, but after the storm, it was underwater, unusable and unsafe to cross by foot or car.
“Our animals are still over there,” she said while looking across the river. “And they can’t get out.”
The Hopsons are one of about ten families across the country who are either trapped in their homes or unable to return to their property. Right now, they do not know how or when repairs will be made.
“It’s just sad, and you don’t realize how nice it is to have a bridge, to be able to get to your home, but I hate to complain because we didn’t lose our house and we could have lost a lot more,” she said.
To rebuild a permanent bridge that was swept away during Helene, the family got a quote for $122,000. While they wait to hear from FEMA about possible financial assistance, ‘Bridges for Avery’ is gathering supplies and volunteers to rebuild once again.
“We had no idea what 3-5 inches of rain was going to do to our community until this happened,” Ollis said.
Ollis says right now there are over 100 bridges — small and large — that still need to be either repaired or replaced across Avery County.