Daniel Wright stands in the back of his flood-damaged home in Swannanoa, N.C., on Oct. 26, 2024. After flood waters filled his house with mud and debris, Wright has spent weeks clearing out ruined belongings. The rebuilding is still ongoing. “You don’t think your life will change indefinitely in just a few hours,” Wright said.A mud-covered car sits abandoned in the Beacon Village neighborhood in Swannanoa, N.C., on Oct. 25, 2024. Cleanup has been slow for residents like Daniel Wright, who said it took days with 10 to 12 people shoveling heavy, thick mud out of flooded homes.Daniel Wright stands in the exposed structure of his home in Swannanoa, N.C., on Oct. 25, 2024. Cleanup requires heavy equipment, including a backhoe to clear debris and mud from around the house. The process has involved tearing up floors, taking down walls, removing the ceiling, and discarding insulation and other porous materials that could harbor mud, water, bacteria and mold.
A muddy football jersey hangs on a pile of debris in the Beacon Village neighborhood in Swannanoa, N.C., on Oct. 26, 2024. Daniel Wright recalled the first day after the flood: “It was a long day—eight or nine hours felt like days. We were tired, wet, cold, and hungry, just trying to make sense of what was happening. It was the first taste of what the next little while would be like,” he said.Pat Gowan searches through debris at her family’s Triple C Campground in Marion, N.C., on Oct. 8, 2024, hoping to find belongings lost during Hurricane Helene. She and her husband, Charlie Gowan, had planned to celebrate the campground’s 50th anniversary next year, but those plans now seem unlikely.The exterior of a damaged building at Triple C Campground bears visible scars from the flood and a door lies partially buried in mud. According to the U.S. Geological Survey, floodwaters in Buck Creek near the campground surged to a record 21.44 feet—an increase of about 1,389% above the normal depth.The interior of a house at Triple C Campground in Marion, N.C., on Oct. 8, 2024. Insulation and debris scattered across the now-dried mud, and parts of the ceiling have collapsed.Volunteers from Samaritan’s Purse clear debris from a house in Swannanoa, N.C., on Oct. 26, 2024. The faith-based disaster relief organization has mobilized volunteers to remove mud, salvage personal belongings, and clear yards to prepare homes for repairs. Samaritan’s Purse airdropped essentials, including generators, Starlink devices, baby supplies and drinking water in the early days following the hurricane.The flooded basement of the house that Samaritan’s Purse worked on in Swannanoa, N.C., on Oct. 26, 2024, had belongings submerged in mud. Volunteers from Samaritan’s Purse are working to clear four feet of mud, salvage personal items and remove debris. “There’s always a huge rush of volunteers in the beginning of the disaster, and then it wanes when the media stops covering it,” said Jodie Yoder, program manager for U.S. disaster relief with Samaritan’s Purse. “But the need is still here.”Reeda Ward (left) and her sister Nora Ward stand in a room packed with belongings moved from other parts of Reeda’s flood-damaged home in Saluda, N.C., on Oct. 27, 2024, as repairs begin in the rest of the house. The hurricane dumped more than 15 inches of rain, triggered mudslides that cut off major roads, and left Saluda without power or clean water for days.Cayte Gowan serves free meals to residents and volunteers in the Ingles parking lot in Swannanoa, N.C., on Oct. 26, 2024. Gowan is a professional chef who lost her job after Hurricane Helene. Gowan prepares meals including gluten-free, dairy-free, and vegan options, supported mostly by donations. “I like seeing the joy in people’s faces when they get hot food that’s well flavored, that’s safe for them,” Gowan said. On her third day of service, a woman who had been vegan for 23 years cried with relief upon finding meals she could eat.
Two handwritten signs on a wooden utility pole read, “Climate Change is Chaos” and “Climate Change is Death,” in Swannanoa, N.C., on Oct. 26, 2024. The hurricane caused widespread damage, and recovery has been slow, with many homes still uninhabitable. An overturned vehicle rests on an eroded riverbank in Swannanoa, N.C., on Oct. 27, 2024. Significant erosion triggered landslides, stripped away trees and topsoil and left bedrock exposed. With no ground cover remaining, spring runoff is expected to worsen the risk of further landslides in the area.A sign of encouragement stands amid the wreckage of a destroyed gas station in Swannanoa, N.C., on Oct. 26, 2024. Smaller communities like Swannanoa continue to face challenges — many lack the financial resources to rebuild, and rising costs are compounding their struggles. Rebuilding has been delayed as volunteers leave and donations decline.
Xiaohua (Chrissy) Wang, a senior from Hefei, China, is majoring in Journalism with a minor in Anthropology. She has experience in motion graphics, graphic design, marketing, documentary filmmaking, and photojournalism. Chrissy hopes to build a career within the NGO field.
