When Hurricane Helene came through the southern Appalachians in late September 2024, it did something few people in the region had planned for. It turned mountain streams into forces that moved houses, tore out bridges, and buried whole neighborhoods in mud. The storm killed more than 100 people in western North Carolina alone. Nearly two years later, water is still a problem.
The mountains around Asheville, Burnsville, and Spruce Pine sit in some of the most geographically isolated terrain east of the Rockies, and many of the people who live there get their water from private wells and spring-fed lines. When Helene's floodwaters rose, they carried surface contaminants, sewage, and bacteria into those sources. As of the most recent counts, more than 2,700 wells across the region were tested for safety, and the state distributed over 9,500 free well-testing kits along with disinfection supplies so families could clean their systems and test the water before drinking it. Roughly 10,000 well recovery kits went out across the region in total.
After a flood, a well has to be disinfected and tested before anyone can drink from it safely. For a household on a private well, that is the only water source they have. Water can run clear and still carry E. coli or other pathogens.
The municipal water were also heavily impacted by the storm. In July 2026, North Carolina marked a milestone: the state Department of Environmental Quality had awarded more than $1 billion in grants for water and wastewater infrastructure across 28 counties recovering from Helene. Governor Josh Stein announced the figure during a visit to Burnsville, which is receiving $18 million for a new pump system, wells, and a sewer line. Across western North Carolina, 98% of the water systems damaged by the storm have been restored. But the state estimates communities still need more than $750 million in additional repairs to fully rebuild.
The people closest to that gap are the ones who have been doing the work all along. In Burnsville, Reconciliation House has served Yancey County for more than 40 years, providing food, clothing, housing help, and utility assistance to families in crisis. In the weeks after Helene, the organization gathered, sorted, and delivered food and supplies to people cut off by the storm. Long after the national attention moved on, they were still at it.
Jacquie Lunari, who provides client services for Reconciliation House, described the long tail of the recovery in a June 2025 interview with The Laurel of Asheville. Even then, eight months after the storm, she said that loss and damage to farmland and grocery stores had seriously affected the community's access to local food and supplies. Many of the distribution centers that opened after Helene were winding down. Their remaining supplies were being relocated back to organizations like Reconciliation House that had the people and systems to manage the work. As she put it, they were continuing to expand food pantry hours and delivery services to meet the increased demand.
That's also what recovery looks like at year two. It has been a slow handoff from emergency response to the local groups who were there before the storm. Needs in Yancey County still include housing, utility help, replacement of bridges that connect communities, and reliable access to food and water.
Safe water is the thread that runs through all of it. A family can't return home to a house with a contaminated well. A community can't fully recover while its water system is still being rebuilt. This is why we do the work we do at LifeStraw, and why we think about disaster recovery as a long term process. A household water filter removes bacteria, parasites, microplastics, lead, and other contaminants, which means a family waiting on a well test or a system repair still has a way to get safe water in the meantime. It isn't a replacement for rebuilt infrastructure. It's a bridge to it.
Sources: NC Governor's Recovery Office for Western NC; Blue Ridge Public Radio; NC Department of Environmental Quality; NC Department of Health and Human Services; Association of Public Health Laboratories; The Laurel of Asheville.
