For the first two days after Hurricane Helene, Ken Floyd, a 41-year-old general manager of the Monte Vista Hotel in Black Mountain, North Carolina, was in a state of stress. The father-of-three was trapped at home with his family when a landslide devastated the surrounding area, knocking down trees and impacting roads, preventing his ability to check on others. “Was it just a constant worry of when we can get out of here?” says Floyd. “I was concerned and worried about my hotel staff. I wanted to make sure everyone was okay.”

The Monte Vista Hotel has become a meeting point for the community after two managers swung into action to feed hungry guests. “About two days later, I was finally able to get out … and they had turned feeding these 10 guests into feeding the whole town,” says Floyd. “I saw hospitality at its core. I’ve been doing this for 20 years and I saw it in his heart for the first time that day.”

But despite local recovery efforts, some residents are frustrated by delays in federal aid and worry about whether the government will meet in time. “This was a the 1000 year stormFloyd says, echoing forecasters who have said that a hurricane like Helene, with that kind of rainfall, has less than a 0.1 percent chance of happening in any given year. Floyd, who is calling for more financial support from state and federal officials, including FEMA, says rebuilding efforts after the storm are difficult considering new hurricane-proof building guidelines to follow and delays in federal assistance. “People are trying to come back and rebuild and fix their houses, and now they’re being told they have to raise it or they can’t build it all,” he says.

More than 100 people in the state — and at least 228 in the U.S. — died from the storm, nearly half of whom came from Buncombe County, the western North Carolina county that is home to the small mountain town of Black Mountain. The region was devastated by Hurricane Helene on September 28, with some nearby communities such as Busick, North Carolina reporting more than 30 inches of rainwhich caused historic rates of flooding. North Carolina’s budget office estimated the recovery would cost about $53 billion to help repair over 600 bridges destroyed, 7,000 road accident sites and many more.

Helene’s effects extend beyond North Carolina. Hurricane Helene made landfall near Perry, Florida as a Category 4 hurricane on September 26, bringing 50-foot waves to the Big Bend, according to preliminary databefore also affecting Georgia, South Carolina, Virginia, Tennessee and Alabama.

After Helene, Milton, a Category 3 hurricane, arrived on October 9, further damaging Florida and causing 150 tornado warnings in the state.

“We always find ways to bounce back, but this last one, or the last two, it’s been kind of a one-two punch between Helene and Milton,” says David Buzza, a 65-year-old Madeira Beach-based Florida, whose home. was destroyed by the storm. “This is the first time we’ve had direct hits.”

Immediately after the storms, FEMA provided $750 in serious needs assistance to help affected people in the US pay for food, water and other disaster-related goods. And in the weeks after Hurricane Helene, FEMA kicked out $883 million in individual assistance and $524 million in public assistance. Some residents reported delays. “To date, we have not received any money from FEMA. I got a penny from my insurance carrier. We were evaluated. I made the claim the day after (the hurricane). And here we sit,” says Buzza, who was approved for FEMA aid in mid-October. Buzza invested at least $75,000 to fix up his house, he says. “How many famous people can do that?”

FEMA did not respond to requests for comment on the delays in releasing the payments.

Floyd says FEMA officials, who came to visit the community, did a good job of sending padding to restore cell towers and power. In fact, FEMA has restored power to 99 percent of households and about the same percentage of cell sites. But Floyd and others believe the federal presence came too late. “I saw an influx of volunteers from other states, from Vermont, New Jersey, Illinois, Indiana, Virginia, Alabama, people coming from all over to help us in the first two weeks before I even saw a FEMA official. “, he says.

Five weeks later, residents are still navigating the aftermath of the hurricane amid an uncertain timeline for restoration. Both Black Mountain and Madeira Beach have local economies that depend on tourism. Floyd, who sits on the local chamber board, says local officials are working hard to try to help businesses, but the impact of the storm is massive. “Hopefully we’ll be able to get some of that (tourism) back, but we don’t know,” Floyd says. “I grew up in Florida, so I’m familiar with how hurricanes affect areas. I’ve never seen anything like it before.”

Alex Matisse, founder of East Fork Pottery in Asheville, North Carolina, says his production facilities were lucky enough not to be affected by the storm. The city was hit hard by Helene and had already received significant rainfall ahead of the hurricane, making the soil supersaturated and causing wide French rivers to overflow, knocking out power and impacting cell tower lines. The lack of electricity made it impossible to make new pottery, but East Fork Pottery was able to still sell existing pottery online.

“We did this big sale … and people showed up,” says Matisse. “(That) allows us to keep our people on the payroll when so many people in Asheville have been laid off right away, especially because so much of this is driven by tourism. Restaurants, hotels, all those businesses closed immediately.”

East Fork Pottery hired 19 additional workers to help fulfill the flood of orders they received following the hurricane. But Matisse is worried about other local business owners. “One of the biggest struggles is that Asheville is a ghost town and October is (usually) the busiest season — it’s where everybody basically makes their profit for the year.” Asheville saw water restored a week ago, but residents are still out under a boil water notice. While local businesses may want to reopen, Matisse points out that the cost to do so is a massive undertaking. Restaurants have to buy all their food again and put people on the payroll with no guarantee that customers will arrive. Some hotels, he says, have been able to reopen by buying “massive tanks” for drinking water that Matisse says charge 10 cents a gallon and $600 for each tank delivery.

Physical reminders of the hurricane also affected residents. Buzza’s home in Florida is in a high-humidity climate, which, combined with flooding, made his home a thriving habitat for mold. As he works to restore homes to make his home livable, he says some of his neighbors haven’t taken those precautions because of a lack of information on how to fix their home after the floods. And in addition to fears of unsafe living conditions due to mold in the homes, the 12-foot-long pile of rubble outside his home is a grim reminder of the past five weeks. “Going through (the hurricane) and then continuing to see (the debris) in your face every day is extremely difficult to deal with emotionally,” Buzza says.

Pinellas County, where Buzza lives, said in a announcement from mid-October that debris pick-up would be a “major operation that would take months to complete. The county estimates there is about 1 million cubic yards of residential debris in unincorporated areas alone (not including cities). The city of Madeira Beach alone has collected over 20,000 cubic meters of debris since latest report from October 22. However, residents remain frustrated. “I understand it’s a huge, huge task for FEMA to take on, but at the same time, this isn’t the first rodeo,” says Buzza, who is considering paying for private debris removal. “There have been other big storms, so I don’t understand the breakdowns in debris removal and the flow of money to people.”

Matisse reports similar wait times for debris pickup in Asheville, which he says adds a “very strange feeling to so many places.” The changes in scenery were also haunting. “So many natural places have changed so much – places that were for refuge. Rivers have changed, hiking trails have changed along with landslides. There is so much of it.”

Overall, some residents say that while officials have ensured there is enough food and connected those who need temporary housing, more immediate financial investment is needed. Floyd fears FEMA assistance, which is limited to $43,500 per person, will be insufficient because some insurance companies do not cover water damage from the hurricane. “You hope there will be a lot of other agencies that can help,” he says, “because I don’t think FEMA is going to be able to help as much as they should.”