One year later, Southwest Virginia town still recovering from Helene

DAMASCUS, Va. (WWBT) - One year ago, the remnants of Helene hit the mountains of North Carolina and Southwest Virginia hard.

Asheville, North Carolina, rightfully grabbed headlines as the town was devastated by floodwaters, with more than 100 people dying.

The story in Virginia was different. In Southern Virginia, flooding rains ripped up roads and homes and claimed three lives.

I went to the town of Damascus to see how residents are recovering from a once-in-a-lifetime storm. It’s the first of two stories I produced as part of our Hurricane Preparedness week.

Damascus is about a four-and-a-half-hour drive from Richmond, sitting close to the North Carolina and Tennessee state lines. Tourists for years would flood into Damascus in part for the Virginia Creeper Trail, but Helene washed t