When the math don't math
Dennis Aldridge serves Avery County, North Carolina — a mountain community devastated by Hurricane Helene in 2024. More than eighteen months later, he is still confronting a $57 million recovery bill on a $42 million annual budget. Through the American Flood Coalition’s WNC Recovery & Resilience Partnership, Avery County is rewriting what disaster recovery looks like — and naming what federal and state partners still need to deliver.
About the After Helene series
When Hurricane Helene tore through Western North Carolina, it left behind collapsed homes, washed-out roads, and communities facing a long road to recovery. Our After Helene series puts a human face on that recovery, featuring testimonials from locally elected leaders who not only lived through the storm but are working every day to rebuild impacted communities.
