HENDERSON COUNTY, S.C. (WSPA) — A mass rebuild is underway for North Carolinians who call this place, destroyed by Hurricane Helene, home. 

“I’ve never been scared of the river & I was scared that day,” Bat Cave resident, Chelsea Atkins said.

Workers have come to the area from all over the country as thousands have game-planned how and where work can begin.

“Miles of primary routes that were completely decimated and gone and unpassable,” Nathan Tanner, Assistant Division Construction Engineer with NCDOT, described some of the roadways in Henderson County.

NewsNation affiliate WSPA rode along with NCDOT to places in Western North Carolina that are described as unrecognizable.

When asked will this area ever look the same, Resident Engineer, Michael Patton said, “It will..not in my lifetime.”

The North Carolina Department of Transportation said Hurricane Helene was an unprecedented storm for this state, telling us major pieces of infrastructure have been completely wiped away. There are tremendous amounts of areas still covered with downed trees, downed power lines, roads that have fallen apart & houses flipped upside down.

“We are building a road in there to them so they can get access to their homes,” Polk & Transylvania County Maintenance Engineer, Ben Williams said. “It’s not a permanent fix if that makes sense, it’s just an access.”

Officials said communities have been trapped with no way in & no way out. 

For folks in Henderson County, getting supplies across the Rocky Broad River into their homes hasn’t been an easy task. However, residents in the area tell us in the wake of mass destruction their community has remained strong.

“My neighbor Kendall was cooking community meals for everybody,” Atkins said.

“Before there were any supply drops or anything. She was cooking her own food out of her own fridge for everybody. She had a big sign ‘community meal at 6’ and anybody that came through, she fed.”