Helene

Nearly 2,000 students attended Watauga County’s annual Back 2 School Festival this past weekend to receive free backpacks, shoes and supplies for the start of a new year.

A beloved tourist attraction in western North Carolina's Blue Ridge Mountains will be demolished starting later this month. The Lake Lure Flowering Bridge sustained severe damage from Hurricane Helene last year.

The National Park Service has also reopened about four miles of the Parkway in the Bamboo Gap area near Boone following damage from Helene.

National industry experts recently recognized NCDOT's efforts during the National Operations Center of Excellence's annual awards event.

Last year, the foundation distributed more than $200,000 toward tuition for children in Watauga’s licensed early childhood centers in the wake of Helene.

Officials from the Governor's Recovery Office for Western North Carolina and N.C. Emergency Management were speaking in front of a legislative hurricane recovery committee.

State forestry officials have said thousands of acres of downed trees after Helene could contribute to heightened risk in the coming years.

An influx of new residents, rising tourism, and a growing student population at Appalachian State University are all driving up home prices in Boone

Heavy rain, flooding and a rock slide have again closed a section of the major cross country highway Interstate 40 along its narrow corridor through the Great Smoky Mountains.

Since October, the federal-state partnership program has processed more than 11,000 claims for over 800 victims in storm-affected counties.