As residents dig out of the mud, they know Helene has forever changed their NC town

Fran Randall peered into a comic book and board game store in downtown Marshall.

“This is the kind of business we never thought we’d have,” he said, studying the damage inside.

Randall, 61, is a sixth-generation native of Marshall, a Madison County town with fewer than 1,000 people. He grew up on a hill just over downtown, which had bloomed since 2008 or so into an “artsy” sort of place, he said. There was a bike shop, a bar with live music, art galleries and even a tattoo parlor.

But the old Western North Carolina character was still there, like a place to buy bib overalls.

“It’s kind of weird being in that generation that saw old and new,” he said Tuesday. “Now, I’m about to see what’s next.”

Downtown Marshall lies between cliffs and the French Broad River. Like other areas on that river, it was devastated by Helene last week. Police and barricades blocked every way into downtown Tuesday morning. But shop owners, their friends and family met up.

The job was big but straightforward: dig out mud that caked the streets and buildings.

Help for Western North Carolina has come from local law enforcement, the federal government and volunteers. Recovery for some towns will take a long time, though.

Randall donned a fishing hat and a shovel. As he walked along the muddy road, he checked in on friends and neighbors.

Others downtown shared their stories with him and a reporter.

Jaime Perkins talked about putting up barricades around a church before the storm.

Jackson Massey was shoveling mud out of his grandparents’ shop on his 15th birthday; he’d get his learner’s permit to drive soon, his grandfather said.

Connie Molland shared some good news: Most of the art in Flow Gallery survived.

Randall’s town will change more after Helene, he knows. There’s some melancholy in knowing that. But then again, that’s just the way it is. New people will come in. The collective memory won’t hold onto the damage Marshall saw in September 2024.

“The buildings will be gone, a lot of them,” he said. “But new things will come in. It’ll be a further turn of the page, of the old generation of people that’s been here to a new generation.”

This story was originally published October 2, 2024 at 5:00 AM.

Ryan Oehrli

The Charlotte Observer

Ryan Oehrli writes about criminal justice for The Charlotte Observer. His reporting has delved into police misconduct, jail and prison deaths, the state’s pardon system and more. He was also part of a team of Pulitzer finalists who covered Hurricane Helene. A North Carolina native, he grew up in Beaufort County.