One year after Hurricane Helene, Boone community members are still feeling the aftermath of significant damage to their lives and homes. 

Bugz Gallimore, a senior studio art major, was studying ceramics at Penland School of Craft in Bakersville as part of an exchange program with App State early last fall. When Helene struck town, Gallimore, along with the other students and staff at Penland, were stuck. 

“None of the roads were safe, and we lost electricity,” Gallimore said. “We were stranded.”

After returning to their home in Boone, Gallimore faced a new problem: they found the duplex building they were renting had mold and a ceiling on the brink of collapse.

“My house had so much water damage; it was unlivable,” Gallimore said. 

After a conflict with their rental agency about canceling their lease, Gallimore left Boone for the remainder of the semester and stayed with family in Wilmington.

They received grants from the Center for Craft in Asheville, App State and the Federal Emergency Management Agency in order to find a new apartment. They returned to App State in the spring. 

“I’m grateful for the relief that I got,” Gallimore said. “I would have had to leave if I didn’t get it.” 

Gallimore is finishing their senior year and is on track to graduate this semester. After graduation, they plan to teach or move abroad for further education. 

Because of its population and integration with App State, Boone has rebuilt faster than much of Western North Carolina. Caleb Hignite, a recent App State graduate and co-creator of a new grassroots organization, Appalachian Reclamation Alliance, was unharmed by the storm and made an effort to help rebuild changed communities.

“I’ll never forget how the sky looked without power,” Hignite said. “There was no light pollution, and the stars were so bright. I felt small.” 

When Hignite was able to reach campus, he met with others who had experienced more of the hurricane’s effects and connected with the news cycle. 

“I came out of everything physically OK,” Hignite said. “I was alive, and my house was fine. That weekend, I realized the gravity of the situation. I started work on Monday.” 

He decided to start a photojournalistic project with his friends to document the aftermath of the storm and participate in aid efforts. Their work took them around Western North Carolina counties Avery, Mitchell and Yancey. 

“Outside of Boone, the situation is a lot more dire,” Hignite said. “We were doing supply runs until December.” 

Over the course of the project, Hignite realized some recovering communities needed construction materials and manpower to build new homes more than they needed the food, clean water and clothes that were donated in droves from around the country. 

“There are still a lot of people living in RVs,” Hignite said. “That’s at least a step up from the tents they had in the fall.”

Dalton George, a member of the Boone Town Council and mayor pro tempore, was inspired by his own experience as a renter to take action on housing after Helene. Three-fourths of Boone residents are renters, and when their homes saw damage, they were in uncharted legal territory. To respond to this, George co-authored a memorandum on tenant rights after the storm that included legal precedents and reminders of the rights a person has when they rent a house or apartment. 

While an App State student, George pushed the town to challenge predatory leasing practices. After graduating, he was elected to the town council in August of 2021. Since then, George has been a part of legislation that regulates owner-operated vacation rentals, ensuring the owners must be part-time residents. George said this is a start to improving tenants rights in Boone, but there is still work to be done.

“Helene resulted in the destruction of a lot of housing stock,” George said. “We also have high demand and not a lot of flat land to build on.” 

George is running uncontested for Boone mayor with plans to take steps toward inclusionary housing policies, investing in more public works, protecting green space and reorganizing existing spaces with denser housing.

“Redevelopment isn’t a loss of the soul of the community,” George said. “This town is special, and if it’s not affordable and natural, we lose it.”

As the one-year milestone has passed, Hignite is determined to share his work and continue to bring attention to the relief efforts still needed in Western North Carolina.

“I’m not going to stop this work until every person hurt by the storm has their home back,” Hignite said. “And that’ll never be the case.”