A year after Helene, a group of raft guides embarks on a river clean-up mission

"When Amelia Taylor learned that whitewater outfitters near the Nolichucky River would remain closed this season, she had to figure out how to make up for the lost income. So she went from being a professional whitewater river guide to being a "professional trash lady," Taylor says. "I'm very proud of it. It's an honest day's work." Taylor has been a whitewater river guide in the area for about sixteen years."

"It's been a year since the remnants of Hurricane Helene walloped eastern Tennessee and western North Carolina with devastating and deadly flooding, and forcing most rafting companies to cease operations. Rivers popular for whitewater rafting reopened for the 2025 season, except for the Nolichucky. On the morning of September 27, 2024, the storm hovered over the Southern Appalachians after it had been raining continuously for several days."

""You saw thousands of years of change in parts of the landscape happen in two hours," said geologist and Appalachian region expert, Philip Prince. "The Nolichucky flooding was proportionally the greatest of rivers in the region. It got literally the maximum possible effect of the Helene system all funneled down into that one river gorge," he says. The debris flow landslides hurled chunks of railroad tracks, houses and hazardous material into the river."

Remnants of Hurricane Helene produced devastating, deadly flooding across eastern Tennessee and western North Carolina, with the Nolichucky River experiencing the greatest proportional impact. The storm funneled intense flows into the Nolichucky gorge, triggering debris-flow landslides that hurled railroad tracks, houses and hazardous materials into the river. The U.S. Forest Service closed river access while year-long reconstruction and restoration proceed. Most regional whitewater rivers reopened for the 2025 season, but the Nolichucky remained closed. Local outfitters and former guides shifted to cleanup work along riverbanks to recover income and assist in debris removal and restoration.

Read at www.npr.org