NORTH CAROLINA, USA — A North Carolina school reopened for the first time in weeks since the remnants of Hurricane Helene destroyed its highway access, officials said.
That's thanks to the highways crews from North Carolina and Kentucky.
“Kentucky transportation workers in North Carolina are helping to speed the recovery process and are allowing North Carolina crews to spread out to help more people, more quickly,” Gov. Andy Beshear said. “When it comes to looking out for our neighbors, whether they live next door, in the next county or in another state, I’m incredibly grateful we have public servants who don’t hesitate to answer that call.”
According to the governor's office, North Carolina Department of Transportation employees have reopened nearly 900 roads, and Kentucky crews have helped clean up 7,500 damaged sites.
Part of that clean up includes cutting trees, clearing mud slides and rebuilding roadways.
The first crews were dispatched from the Lexington, Flemingsburg, Jackson and Pikeville highway districts Oct 3 and Oct. 4 officials said. Since then, crews from Manchester, Madisonville, Bowling Green, Elizabethtown, Somerset, Louisville and Covington highway districts have made their way to North Carolina.
“Our crews have already made a difference in the lives of countless North Carolinians,” Jim Gray, the secretary of the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet (KYTC), said. “They’ve been highly commended by residents and officials alike because they’re self-sufficient and know a thing or two about how to respond to broken roads – having dealt with our own tornadoes and floods just a few short years ago. We’re proud they’re there to share the spirit and the muscle of that experience to restore communities, to help our neighbors.”
Louisville and Manchester crews worked on Bee Tree Road in Swannoanoa, and they hauled more than 300 truck loads of materials to reconstruct whole lanes on that roadway officials said.
“Thank you for the heroes you sent to help … who are rebuilding the road to my children's school in Swannanoa,” said Lindsay Hensley, in an email to KYTC. “It is truly helping the kids get back to a sense of normalcy and routine. We appreciate your employees sacrificing time within their own community to help ours – what a tremendous gift.”
KYTC officials said other crews are also helping in Tennessee and Florida, as well as other places impacted by Helene and Milton.
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