ASHEVILLE - When Tropical Storm Helene ripped through Western North Carolina last September, many residents were caught off guard by the ferocity of the storm, the record rainfall and historic, deadly floodwaters.

The damage to property, homes, infrastructure was immense. More than 100 people lost their lives to Helene. The storm caused nearly $60 billion in damage and destruction.

But even for those living in areas of the mountains that weren't washed away or destroyed by landslides and tree falls, finding daily needs became a struggle. Many areas of WNC experienced prolonged loss of power, access to potable water — including a seven-week outage in Asheville — and limited to no access to grocery stores and pharmacies.

Early on, with no power, ATMs weren't working, and stores that were

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