According to a report from the North Carolina Forest Service, Hurricane Helene caused more than $213 million in damage to the forests of western North Carolina impacting 821,906 acres.

Three rivers that swelled to deadly levels during Hurricane Helene on Sept. 27 – the French Broad, Nolichucky and Pigeon – start in North Carolina and empty into Douglas Lake. They transformed the waters of the popular recreation and fishing destination to brown muck and left a one-square-mile island of wreckage after the historic floods.