Six months after Helene, ECU alumni continue to help with recovery
The rushing water turned roads into raging rivers, chewing up asphalt along with nearby buildings and homes. Six months later, repairs and rebuilding continue in western North Carolina.
Bob Barnhill, an ECU alumnus and chairman of the board for Barnhill Contracting Company, stands with others amid storm relief supplies donated for western North Carolina. (Contributed photo)
In the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Helene in late September, Pirate Nation came together with a variety of supply drives and support for devastated mountain towns and communities. After all, eastern North Carolina and Greenville specifically are no strangers to catastrophic floods from hurricanes.
That’s just one reason Bob Barnhill, an East Carolina University alumnus and chairman of the board for Barnhill Contracting Company, took such an interest in putting his company to work in the region.
“Those that live in eastern North Carolina know the devastation a hurricane can cause,” he said. “We also know how important it is to a community to get our roads opened back up so that people and supplies move efficiently as they help those in need.”
Barnhill Contracting is a strong supporter of ECU’s Department of Construction Management, providing guidance through the industry advisory board and supporting students through scholarships. The company is showing that same type of support in western North Carolina.
Crews from the company’s Raleigh and heavy highway divisions have been hard at work on road repairs. Barnhill noted a particular five-mile stretch of N.C. 80 near Marion where flooding took one lane of the two-lane highway and sent it cascading down the mountain. The company’s crews have been working to stabilize the slopes, grade roadside ditches and place rip-rap — stones designed to protect the soil from erosion — so that the road that intersects the Blue Ridge Parkway can be repaved and fully restored.
“The damage to the road system in western North Carolina is far worse than anything we have ever seen,” Barnhill said. “The number of people that lost their homes and businesses makes getting the roads back open even more critical for fellow North Carolinians. We have pledged to do all we can to help speed up this process.”
First and Goal
To put it in football terms, recovery in western North Carolina may not be out of the first quarter yet. Football — and dump trucks — are things Dekota Marshall knows.
Barnhill Contracting Company has been in western North Carolina working on road repairs such as this to N.C. 80 near Marion. (Contributed photo)
The former Pirate football player and 2010 communication graduate is the owner of 1st and Goal Hauling. His trucks are carrying materials to help rebuild roads in western North Carolina.
“There are roads washed away, downed trees, houses upside down or completely destroyed, burned vehicles, debris everywhere, piles of mud, upside down vehicles, power lines down, trees on top of houses,” he said.
The work hasn’t been easy.
“A lot of the challenges we have faced is seeing the roads weren’t built for big dump trucks,” he said. “The roads are very small along the mountainsides. You have to really watch the roads to make sure your truck can navigate safely. While driving, we have had roads collapse because of erosion. Some trucks have turned over on sharp curves and some have hit the mountainside.”
He is proud of his workers and what they have done to support storm victims.
“We have helped to open a lot of roads and bridges for the locals to get back to everyday life,” he said.
Marshall credits ECU for helping him get his business off the ground.
“When I decided to pursue a career in trucking, I came back to ECU and was pointed in the right direction,” said Marshall, who is a member of the Pirate Club executive committee. “Here I am 10 years later with 25 dump trucks.”
Trucks that he said would remain in the region until the work is completed.
“There is a lot of work to be done there,” Marshall said. “I don’t see my company leaving the area until the last load is hauled. We started the job and will finish the job.”
Home Sweet Home
David Price visited Asheville shortly after Helene roared through the city on Sept. 27.
Hurricane Helene damaged roads throughout western North Carolina. (Contributed photo)
“The River Arts District was wiped out completely, aside from a few lucky businesses,” Price said. “Buildings and foundations were gone, and just debris everywhere, still in trees, if they were still there.”
Price graduated from ECU in 2005 in construction management with a minor in business administration. He started David Price Construction in 2009 and gives back to ECU through scholarship support and involvement on the construction management industry advisory board.
He also lives ECU’s motto of service through his membership in the North Carolina Home Builders Association (NCHBA), an organization dedicated to improving conditions in the home building industry. He said the group’s goal is to protect the American dream of home ownership, a difficult task in western North Carolina, where Helene destroyed more than 1,000 homes and damaged tens of thousands more, according to the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Officials told state lawmakers earlier this month that the FEMA count may be low.
Price, the first vice president of NCHBA, said the organization went to work immediately after the storm.
“We have raised over $600,000 for grants for our members and their employees who have been directly affected,” Price said. “We also worked with the U.S. Veterans Corps to fly Starlink into affected areas when they had no means of getting in touch with the outside world over the first month or so after the storm. We have sent tractor trailers of construction supplies, clothes, cleaning supplies, food, etc. We worked with Lowe’s to build 100 tiny homes that people are now living in instead of tents.”
Western North Carolina is beginning to recover. Damaged businesses are beginning to reopen. Roads and bridges are being repaired. Two lanes of Interstate 40 west of Asheville are even hosting vehicles again. Still, some residents could be waiting more than five years to have their homes rebuilt, storm recovery officials told state lawmakers earlier this month.
Price came to ECU shortly after Hurricane Floyd devastated eastern North Carolina with historic flooding in 1999. He knows how long recovery from a storm such as Helene can take.
“It is extremely important to help out our neighbors,” Price said. “We have seen destruction before, but not on the scale of what we are seeing in western North Carolina after this storm. Only a few storms have brought this type of destruction, but not this widespread. Please help these people any way that you personally can. They will need it for years to come.”