I got an email the other day from a longtime reader called Ashley who is based in Asheville, North Carolina, a town that has like so many other towns in Western North Carolina been devastated by Hurricane Helene. Search and rescue continues, they’re only just starting to assess the terrible impact, and as Ashley wrote, “it’s going to be a long road to recovery and … I feel like most of the world hasn’t noticed us or has moved on”. 

These communities are heartbroken and struggling and Ashley told me that “it would mean the world to know that others see us, and that they care”. So I’m here to share with you what she shared with me in her message about Asheville, a “vibrant beautiful welcoming town in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina”. 

Here’s what Asheville looks like now: 

Photo credits: ERIK S LESSER/EPA-EFE/ Shutterstock

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