1 year later and Pine Knoll Shores is still cleaning up after Hurricane Florence

It has been just over a year since Hurricane Florence sat over the Crystal Coast damaging homes, buildings, and ripping apart trees.

Allen Saunders said his new business, Saunders Restoration, booked only a couple jobs per week before Hurricane Florence. After the mega storm, business really picked up–to the tune of a couple hundred jobs per month.

RELATED: New Bern rebuilds, but damage remains one year after Hurricane Florence

We meet Saunders on a job site in Pine Knoll Shores. He and his crew of two are cutting down a dead pine tree. The tree had been twisted and torn in the winds of Florence, possibly hit by lightning, and now stood dead.

“This person needed five tress knocked down because they were dead and he didn’t want another storm to come through and knock the trees on the house,” Saunders said of the owner prior to the tree’s removal.

From Atlantic Beach, to Emerald Isle, to Pine Knoll Shores, there is still much work to be done.

Many jobs Saunders did in the days following Florence, he offered for free.

“We’re here to help, that’s the main thing, ” Saunders said. “Help the community, build up the community, and restore the community.”