‘Everything we had floated away’: Hurricane Helene survivors help each other as disinformation swirls

Mountain communities in southern Appalachia begin rebuilding after climate crisis-fueled disaster

It's hard to picture what Barnardsville looked like before Hurricane Helene converted the calm creek that meanders through this North Carolina mountain holler into a roaring river that engulfed the community.

More than 50 homes including an entire trailer park were destroyed when Ivy Creek flooded in late September after three days of unprecedented rainfall and hurricane-force winds uprooted thousands of trees - and this close-knit community's sense of safety.