A community was hit hard by Hurricane Helene. They are now dealing with raging wildfires.
A North Carolina area, McDowell County, still recovering from the devastation caused by Hurricane Helene is facing yet another natural disaster in the form of wildfires.
Old Fort, a town of roughly 800 located in McDowell County, was hit with evacuation orders Wednesday afternoon after the Crooked Creek wildfire broke out, the Asheville Citizen Times, part of the USA TODAY Network, reported.
As of noon ET Thursday, McDowell County's Office of Emergency Management said 220 acres had burned and the fire was 55% contained. Evacuation orders were lifted at 8 a.m. but emergency personnel will remain on-site to monitor the situation and ensure containment of the fire. One home was damaged and multiple outbuildings were destroyed, said the agency's Thursday afternoon announcement.
The county said in its afternoon update that the fire was caused by a downed power line during high winds on Wednesday. No injuries have been reported.
The North Carolina Forest Service Wildfire Public Viewer showed that McDowell County was contending with three active wildfires Wednesday including the Crooked Creek Fire in Old Fort and the North Fork Fire in Marion.
Evacuation orders lifted: Old Fort wildfire burns 220 acres, now 55% contained
The last few months have been anything but easy for Old Fort and other communities across Western North Carolina.
Hurricane Helene slammed into North Carolina in late September, impacting the Western part of the state particularly hard. At a legislative meeting on Wednesday, local officials told state lawmakers that WNC will need "billions more dollars from the federal and state government to accomplish its recovery goals," reported AP. The region saw historic flooding that resulted in roughly $60 billion in damages when the storm hit.
AP also reported that the North Carolina Office of Recovery and Resiliency made a call on Thursday for the legislature to provide $217 million in funds to complete construction on more than 1,000 Eastern North Carolina homes destroyed by Hurricanes Matheew and Florence in 2016 and 2018.
The Citizen Times reported that on Jan. 2, Gov. Josh Stein signed his first executive order to bring more temporary housing units — in the form of travel trailers — to WNC while the state's senators have called on President Joe Biden to bring more housing to the region in a Jan. 8 letter to the president.
Between 121,000 and 132,000 homes in WNC were estimated to be damaged by Helene, according to North Carolina's Office of State Budget and Management. With over 5,700 households in FEMA-funded hotels at the beginning of the month, around 3,500, were set to be given the boot by Jan. 12, leaving residents scrambling for housing, reported the Citizen Times earlier this month.
As of the Citizen Time's Jan. 13 report, FEMA had placed 93 households in temporary housing units, but roughly 12,000 WNC residents remained displaced after Helene.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Wildfires hit McDowell County in NC still reeling from Helene
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