Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem is visiting Asheville, North Carolina on Saturday to see how the city is recovering from Hurricane Helene's damage and meet with people affected by the storm. She is expected to speak to reporters around 2:50 p.

The U.S. Forest Service has reopened several trails and roads in the Appalachian Ranger District. The U.S. Forest Service has cleared 137 miles of trails, including over 114 miles of the Appalachian Trail. Crews have also surveyed and reopened about 240 miles of roads across the district.

Before leaving the governor's office, Roy Cooper stated in media interviews that Republican state legislators passed a bill that "actually took money away from western North Carolina." WFAE's Marshall Terry and WRAL's Paul Specht fact-check Cooper's claim.

Closing in on five months since Hurricane Helene devastated western North Carolina, the area is far from being rebuilt. Insurance claims are being processed, and the federal government has done the initial appropriations for recovery.

MILLS RIVER, N.C. (WBTV) - North Carolina Governor Josh Stein requested more than $1 billion in funding to support Hurricane Helene recovery efforts in Western North Carolina. The request was made on Monday, Feb. 3. Stein spoke at MANNA Foodbank in Mills River to announce the funding request.

Answering critical published reports, Republican state Treasurer Brad Briner said Tuesday his office has created from the ground up a program for cashflow distribution to local

After Hurricane Helene hit western North Carolina last September, tens of thousands of homes were damaged and large swaths of the region were damaged by flooding. In January, President Donald Trump signed an executive order to speed up recovery,

Helene reshaped much of western North Carolina’s landscape, rerouting rivers and felling large swaths of forests. Aerial timber surveys indicate that Helene damaged over 800,000 acres of North Carolina’s forested land.