Some western North Carolina victims of a storm they'll always remember can't help but feel forgotten.

Claudette Childs is a lifelong resident of Pensacola, a tiny unincorporated community in Yancey County. Childs said she can't help but feel abandoned by the federal and state governments with their response to compile aid packages.

Other WRAL Top Stories

She said Helene turned her green paradise into another planet.

"It's like Mars. You're driving down a road that you've driven all of your life," Childs said. "And, and you say, 'where are we?' You don't even know."

There was the store that had been in her family for four generations ... it's gone. Roads are gone. Homes and friends are gone as well.

"There was so much loss, so many friends that you can't count on, on, on two hands, uh

See Full Page