County recovery lead reports debris removed and hazard-mitigation applications underway after Hurricane Helene

McDowell County emergency management briefed commissioners on June recovery efforts stemming from Hurricane Helene, reporting large volumes of debris removed, ongoing personal-property damage-recovery work and multiple hazard-mitigation initiatives in progress.

The update described completed and ongoing federal, state and volunteer efforts and listed near-term priorities for debris, housing repairs and mitigation work.

Andrew Presley, standing in for William, told the board the Emergency Operations Center remains active and the county is focusing on three priorities: debris removal, housing repairs, and hazard mitigation. "We collected a total of a 165,773 cubic yards of debris from, private and public roads in McDowell County," Presley said, and he reported waterway debris removal had exceeded "over a million cubic yards of debris, effective today."

Presley summarized personal property damage-recovery (PPDR) activity: the PPDR intake had received more than 1,400 applications and the contractor JBW had been awarded work; about 400 applications were actively being processed and 15 crews were working in the county. He said FEMA and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers are continuing to assess remaining applications and cleanup priorities and that the Army Corps reported being "70% completed with all the debris missions here in McDowell".

Volunteer organizations continue to operate under the county’s VOAD (Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster). Presley said the VOAD had handled 502 requests, with 427 marked completed and a number of repairs and rebuilds pending. On hazard mitigation, he gave counts of applicants and projects that the county is pursuing: 35 citizens applied for acquisition/buyouts, 21 for elevation projects, and 17 generator projects planned for facilities used during the response; the county also identified 12 landslide sites for attention. A wildfire mitigation program was slated to kick off with interagency meetings that month.

Near-term priorities Presley listed for the next 30 days were continued waterway debris removal, PPDR cleanup and demolition of structures approved under PPDR, ongoing housing repairs, and finalizing generator lists in coordination with municipalities.

Commissioners asked about local debris stations and where materials would be moved; Presley said some local sites had been significantly worked and that officials would follow up with details. He also noted the county had conducted a regional hurricane/flash-flood exercise in May with 90 participants and 50 agencies and said after-action reviews were being incorporated into the emergency operations plan.

What’s next: FEMA, the Army Corps and the county will continue PPDR processing and waterway work; Presley said staff will follow up with commissioners on specific debris-site closure questions and on progress in hazard mitigation project listings.