BURNSVILLE, N.C. — North Carolina Gov. Josh Stein visited Yancey County on Thursday to meet with Helene survivors.
The state Senate voted Wednesday on a fourth round of disaster relief for Western North Carolina to recover from the damage.
Stein went to the area last month to announce the opening of Interstate 40, reconnecting North Carolina and Tennessee.
Those lanes reopened last weekend.
Yancey County Sheriff Shane Hilliard said his mom lost her home during the storm. Four of her neighbors died from flash flooding.
Sheriff Hilliard showed Stein where the bridge near his mom’s home used to be.
His mother, Susie Hilliard, is rebuilding and got to speak to the governor.
“It means a lot that he cares enough to come out and see the devastation,” Susie Hilliard said. “Just try to help us to get our life back.”
Stein went to Micaville Elementary School in Burnsville. A school that has not reopened because it was damaged. The 200 children who go there must go to different schools.
“A lot of my families are making mortgage payments on homes that are not standing,” said former principal Melanie Bennett. “So they’re having to work and work extra hours just to provide for their families to make this mortgage payment.”
The governor said he is thankful for what state lawmakers had done this week to pass $530 million of new funding for western North Carolina.
However, he said more money will be needed from the federal government to help with the billions of dollars of damage across our western counties.
“The needs are immense, $60 billion in damages in all of western North Carolina,” Stein said. “We just toured one county, Yancey County, and everywhere you look, you see destruction.”
The governor also spoke about the importance of summer-school programs for the children who missed seven weeks of school after Helene hit.
VIDEO: Popular Morganton attraction washed out by Helene partially reopens
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