My spring break trip included an unexpected tour of a disaster zone.
I was in the North Carolina mountains and it was stunning to see it like this a year and a half after Hurricane Helene. A hurricane hits Florida… and still ends up dumping up to 20 inches of rain in the mountains of western N.C.
The result was catastrophic flooding that caused $60 billion of damage in state. That reality really sets in driving into Chimney Rock.
I've seen a lot of waterways. But the Broad River was just… different. Not just something that flooded—something that was reshaped.
Boulders and trees everywhere. Dirt and debris scattered.. Looking up, the hillsides are scoured out—raw earth exposed. Homes sitting uncomfortably close to the edge.
In the town of Chimney Rock, where the river used to be the centerpiece, the view now is a wide, dry, mud-filled channel and an active construction site.
Yet right in the middle of it is signs of the community's resilience.
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