(NewsNation) — After Hurricane Helene hit western North Carolina last September, tens of thousands of homes were damaged and large swaths of the region were damaged by flooding.
In January, President Donald Trump signed an executive order to speed up recovery, clearing debris and rebuilding roads.
The effort has ramped up over the past 11 or 12 days following Trump’s visit to the region.
In Swannanoa, crews have arrived with heavy equipment to work on clearing debris from rivers and streams. In addition to flooding, the Asheville area also lost many of its trees and cleanup has been slow.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said they are surging resources following Trump’s executive order.
“You can’t be instantaneous, but we surged our own assets and resources here in terms of Corps of Engineers personnel,” said Brig. Gen. Daniel Hibner. “First, they help us figure out what can we do, what’s in the realm of possibility.”
The Corps coordinated with FEMA and Trump to make sure they could accomplish the goal.
“That’s what we’re really doing now, we’re moving on that executive order,” Hibner said.
Crews from all over the country, including Wisconsin, have traveled to Swannanoa, Asheville and other communities in the Blue Ridge mountains to help with the work.
Mike Stewart lives in Swannanoa and told NewsNation there has been a big change in the last few weeks.
“Things sat pretty inactive for probably three or four or five weeks,” Stewart said. “We didn’t see any Army Corps of Engineers. Not really any work. Then yesterday I got a phone call, hey, we’re out here, we’re going to clean up the river. Can we use your property to access the river?”
Stewart said he had no idea what to expect when he showed up but found millions of dollars of equipment cleaning up the river, accomplishing what would have taken him years to do on his own.
“It’s just a fantastic gift,” he said.