News

City forecasts Helene repairs will cost $160 million

The city of Hendersonville tallied up 87 repair or rebuilding projects costing $160 million in a forecast of Helene recovery presented to the city council last week. [CITY OF HENDERSONVILLE]

By Bill Moss, Published: September 30, 2025

A year after Helene, the city of Hendersonville has generated a cost estimate to repair damaged buildings, parks and infrastructure.

Like everything else when it comes to Helene damage, it’s a big number: $160 million. And also like everything Helene-related, the jarring pricetag presents more questions than answers about who’ll write the check — and when.

City first responders, utility and public works crews won wide praise for the heroic job they did in getting water and sewer service restored to more than 90 percent of city users within days of the storm devastation last Sept. 27. But things only look OK when the end user turns on the faucet or flushes the toilet. There’s lots to fix on the front end.

Damage to reservoirs, major intakes and water and sewer treatment plants add up to $124 million, city engineers say, or three-quarters of the city’s total damage assessment. While there’s little dispute that repair or replacement of public facilities is reimbursable by FEMA, towns, cities and counties across Western North Carolina all report frustratingly long bureaucratic delay in getting project approvals.

The city council heard a full report last week on Helene damage, what had been fixed or is currently under repair and what’s still to be done. (The council was meeting at the city Ops Center, which itself had been inundated by Mud Creek floodwaters during Helene and only reopened last month.) Here are the highlights:

• Water and sewer: 23 projects totaling $124 million including and treatment plants. (The city has received a $9.6 million emergency bridge loan to shore up cash flow while waiting on some projects’ completion and federal reimbursement.)
• Public buildings (not including rec facilities), $2.1 million: City Hall, the City Ops Center on Williams Street and property on Sugarloaf Road.
• Parks and greenways: 14 projects totaling $21.7 million, including major damage to the Whitmire Center, Toms Park, Patton Park and Patton pool.
• Debris management: Collected 33,197 cubic yards of debris in initial sweep, collected 87 loads of debris during April Sweep, purchased new grapple buckets for skid steers/front loaders, conducted zoning enforcement at blighted commercial properties.
• Housing: Worked with owners of damaged homes in city historic districts “to ease the burden of the COA (certificate of occupancy) process,” amended city zoning ordinance to allow rebuilding of non-conforming residential uses damaged by the storm, authorized use of RVs for residential use for up to 180 days while repairs are underway, waived permit fees.
• Flood mitigation: Held a communitywide workshop in January. The city plans to complete construction of Phase 1 of the Lower Mud Creek flood risk reduction project in the area south of Publix (groundbreaking this week). The city is coordinating with Henderson County and N.C. Emergency Management to take ownership of FEMA buyout properties on Dana Road, Clear Creek Landing and Leyland Circle, working to finalize acquisition of flood-prone property on South Grove Street and collaborating with Henderson County on future flood mitigation projects.

The council also heard an update from consulting engineers and architects on options for repairing or rebuilding the Whitmire Center, Toms Park and Patton Park and pool. Costs range from $3.1 million to add trail restrooms at Whitmire/Toms Park (no rec center) to $49.2 million for outdoor aquatics, a 50-meter indoor (competition-level) pool with warm-water wellness pool at Patton Park. The council took no action.