Raleigh North Carolina News

Family members rescued a Burnsville couple and their dog after Helene’s floods trapped them for four days. Olivia Cooner, her boyfriend Eli Shipman and their Corgi terrier dog are now staying with family on Topsail Island. “We are in indefinite displacement and figuring it out day by day,” Cooner said. Cooner said they got no notices to evacuate last week before the storm. They bought enough food, water and dog food to get them through…

First responders located the body of Julie Le Roux Friday after she went missing in a mudslide caused by Helene in Marion, North Carolina. According to family members of Le Roux, she was recovered Friday after days of searching in and around Marion. Family members of John Norwood, Le Roux’s fiancée, say he doesn’t consider himself lucky or a “miracle survivor.” Rescuers used a pulley system to bring him to safety over dangerous floodwaters. Norwood…

Many musical artists are planning benefit concerts to help raise funds for Hurricane Helene recovery in North Carolina. On Friday night, bluegrass group Gangstagrass will perform a benefit show at the Aria Center, 2609 N. Duke St. in Durham. The performance will raise money for the North Carolina Red Cross’s relief efforts in Western North Carolina. Tickets are $25 general admission and $15 for students. On Oct. 13, the Triangle Youth Jazz Ensemble and the…

Singer Sturgill Simpson, the Nashville disrupter who won a Grammy Award for his 2016 album, “A Sailor’s Guide to Earth,” on his property in Sewanee, Tenn., Sept. 12, 2019. Simpson, whose new album, “Sound & Fury” debuts Sept. 27, 2019, refuses to be what others want him to be. (Kristine Potter/The New York Times). Sturgill Simpson has announced a special benefit concert supporting disaster relief efforts in the state on Oct. 21 at Booth Amphitheatre. All…

Madison County is one of the many counties in western North Carolina ravaged by Hurricane Helene over the weekend. As residents in Marshall combat potentially dangerous dust lingering in the air and feet of mud covering everything on the ground, those in Hot Springs face the challenge of getting people in to move supplies. Several supplies moved in Thursday night, but now many in the town are racing against the clock to get manpower into…

There’s extensive visible damage, but the sense of loss for what remains unseen is equally deep and painful, as McDowell County has been devastated. “It’s unfathomable at this point,” Steve Little, Marion mayor said. “So much has just washed away.” He says it took just a couple of seconds. Steve Little has been the longtime mayor of Marion. “Major, major mudslides,” Little continued, referencing the destruction, including the yellow house in Old Fort. “It collapsed…

The town of Marshall is covered in feet of mud, and people are wearing masks because of dust in the area. Volunteers and people digging out their homes and businesses are also wearing coveralls, before the mud covers them too. “We’ve been shoveling pretty much solid since Sunday,” said Becca Phillips. Phillips said she and her family are digging out their second home. “All the furniture is destroyed. It’s all piled outside,” Phillips said. “We’ll…

Gov. Roy Cooper said Thursday afternoon there are positives for western North Carolina in its recovery efforts after the devastation caused by Hurricane Helene. Cooper said he and state leaders are working with local utility companies and hospitals. “There is hope that 90% of the power could be back as early as [Friday], but I’m going to let them [the utility companies] say that,” Cooper said. “That’s something I heard a little earlier.” PowerOutage.us shows…

When the warnings first arrived, days before the remnants of Hurricane Helene, Kimberly Moody took note of what was said — and what wasn’t. The storm was going to be bad, that much was clear. But no one said she needed to start packing. In the wake of the devastation that leveled swaths of her town of Black Mountain, North Carolina, and that killed a friend when he was swept into the Swannanoa River, Moody…

By Aaron Thomas, WRAL reporter Raleigh, N.C. — The Carolina Hurricanes played a Wednesday night preseason game at a sold-out crowd at the Lenovo Center to help aid victims of Hurricane Helene. The team announced two days earlier that tickets for Wednesday’s game would be the Hurricane Relief Game. According to Doug Warf, president of Hurricane Holdings, LLC., the team raised more than $280,000 from ticket sales for the game and sold out the more…

Wake County saw minimal effects from Hurricane Helene last week, but that doesn’t mean schools in the state’s largest district aren’t interested in helping those affected by the storm in western North Carolina. One high school student in Raleigh took it upon herself to organize a donation drive that now involves about half of the high schools in Wake County. Libby O’Leary, a junior two-sport athlete at Athens Drive High School and a member of…

The before and after from Lake Lure shows how landmarks ended up destroyed during Hurricane Helene. Not one but two beloved bridges were swept away by the storm. On the road from Chimney Rock to Lake Lure, years of work and care transformed an abandoned bridge into a garden oasis. The Flowering Bridge was a destination for photographers and visitors to stop and soak in the amazing color. Helene turned that color to catastrophe. “Half of…

Breweries across North Carolina are working together to help support those devastated by Hurricane Helene in western North Carolina. Brewers, including those at Rocky Mount Mills, began using their production facilities to package water for transportation west. “This is going to be a marathon, and we’re going to need everyone’s endurance to rebuild. But, NC craft beer is resilient, and together, brewery by brewery, we can provide critical relief to our WNC community,” said Lisa…

In the wake of Hurricane Helene, the devastation in Avery County has left many residents without access to critical medical supplies, life-saving oxygen and healthcare services. The storm’s impact on infrastructure, with numerous roads blocked or collapsed, has created an urgent medical crisis for those isolated in the region. Canon Memorial Hospital, located in Newland, N.C., has been at the forefront of the response. Working in partnership with the Boone-based organization Samaritan’s Purse, the hospital…

Recovery efforts are ongoing Wednesday throughout western North Carolina following the devastating flooding caused by Tropical Storm Helene. In Polk County, residents remain trapped in their homes, with an unknown number of fatalities reported, while government aid has just begun to arrive. Certain areas of the community have been completely wiped off the map and can only be accessed on foot. Despite being severely impacted by the storm, the town of Saluda continues to demonstrate…