It’s been more than four months since Tropical Storm Helene devastated communities in Western North Carolina. In Swannanoa, one of the hardest-hit areas, some locals say they feel neglected by federal agencies—and have shouldered the burden of cleaning up on their own. President Trump visited the town last month, our Lisa Fletcher followed by a couple weeks, to see what, if anything, has changed.

The following is a transcript of a report from “Full Measure with Sharyl Attkisson.”
Watch the video by clicking the link at the end of the page.

This is Swannanoa, North Carolina, in the aftermath of a rogue hurricane that ripped through this small mountain town, leaving it in ruins.

Today, it’s a town frozen in time.

Businesses on the main street stand in ruins, their contents twisted and jumbled, cars filled with silt still parked, unmoved, since the day Helene caused the river here to crest over 27 feet.

Meghan Danahey, WLOS Meteorologist: “We’re looking at more very heavy rain.”

Rex Hodge, WLOS Reporter: “It’s getting dangerous here. After this live shot, we need to get out of here.”

More than 100 lives were lost in North Carolina, more than 200 people died in total across the region. The lives of many others disrupted, and many of those still struggling.

Kevin Halford lost his home in the flood. We meet him at a mobile soup kitchen, supported wholly by people in the community.

Kevin Halford: I spent four hours during the flood underneath the overpass up here. Once it stopped, I was able to get out, but saw that the river down here had taken over the main road. Some of the neighbors happened to come out and were cutting the trees off of the road, and so I helped them.

Lisa Fletcher: There’ve been a lot of donations and a lot of help from individuals. But as far as what you expected from the state or the federal government, where does that fall?

Kevin Halford: In the beginning, it was hardly existent. And now, it seems to be getting better, and I thank Trump for that.

Lisa Fletcher: Really?

Kevin Halford: Yes.

Lisa Fletcher: I mean, it would be easy to say, “Thank you, President Trump,” because he was just here a few weeks ago. But really, he’s only been in office a few weeks. What do you think it is about what he’s doing that is creating change that is visible to people here?

Kevin Halford: Well, I noticed that FEMA… like before, you would get the runaround when you would get on the phone. You would call to try to find out if your extension was granted on your vouchers. And literally, they couldn’t tell you anything. But now, we’ve been extended through March 7th. They’re amazing now to work with.

Within weeks of the storm, then-candidate Trump made a stop and a promise.

Donald Trump: I will support and totally complete the rebuilding of every region and town and city that was devastated by the hurricane, and I will slash through every bureaucratic barrier that you’re having already and having problems with right now, I understand, pretty badly.

Mike Stewart was there that day, the man behind Trump in the white hat.

He owns a storage shed business that washed away in the flood.

Lisa Fletcher: Then candidate Trump said that if he were put back in the White House, that he would help, he would fix this.

Mike Stewart: Yeah.

Lisa Fletcher: What did you make of those comments at the time?

Mike Stewart: I stood face to face with him and was able to look him in the eyes and try to get a sense of sincerity, whether he was for real or whether he was a politician talking. My sense was he was for real. He was the only one that had the dust from Swannanoa on his shoes. But he made the promise, “If I get elected, I will be back and we’ll get this area taken care of.”

In January, just days after the inauguration, President Trump returned.

President Donald Trump: Today, here I am to deliver on that promise. And we have a lot of things in mind and we’re getting the Corps of the Army Corps of Engineers all set. You need your riverbanks fixed, you need a lot of roads fixed and we’re going to get it done in rapid time.

And just days ago, the sound of progress.

The Army Corps of Engineers, along with contractors and county crews, cleaning roadsides and removing splintered trees and debris from the Swannanoa River.

Even the cab of an 18-wheeler is finally out of the water.

Colonel Brad Morgan: The executive order told us to go faster. We heard it loud and clear.

Colonel Brad Morgan is with the Army Corps of Engineers.

Colonel Brad Morgan: Within the last week or so, we’ve really been able to clear a lot of bottlenecks to get a lot of the permitting and a lot of the other coordination finalized, and that’s enabled us to get started.

So far, the Corps has collected more than a million cubic yards of debris. According to Colonel Morgan, it isn’t even half of what the storm left behind.

Lisa Fletcher: In talking to just residents, some have felt that they saw an initial surge of help from FEMA and the Army Corps of Engineers, and then they feel like things just went away and now you’re back.

Colonel Brad Morgan: We were here. We’ve finished our first pass in a lot of our communities, we’re starting that second pass.

Lisa Fletcher: What’s the timeline that you’re on?

Colonel Brad Morgan: For waterway debris removal, the goal is June the first. We’ve also targeted finalizing our private property debris removal by the end of June. Our goal is to get that out of people’s way, out of people’s lives so that the recovery process and the rebuilding process can continue.

And just last weekend, the Army Corps efforts and relief efforts overall came under review of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.

Kristi Noem, Homeland Security Secretary: We had the chance to see some of the waterways being cleared today with the partnership of the Army Corps of Engineers.

The Homeland Secretary promised not only changes in support for relief in North Carolina, but changes in FEMA itself.

Kristi Noem, Homeland Security Secretary: Perhaps it is going to be eliminating a lot of what FEMA is at the federal level and giving the authority, the dollars, and the money to the states so that they can deploy that.

And she gave credit to those who helped themselves.

Kristi Noem, Homeland Security Secretary: What happened in North Carolina was incredibly special. How people don’t worry about themselves and about their homes, they went and helped their neighbor who was losing everything.

If Swannanoa wasn’t built for the storm, the people were.

Terri Dolan and Matt Barker didn’t know each other before the storm. They say Helene has left them, and the town, stronger.

Matt Barker: Nobody cares about where you’re coming from politically or in any other way. We’re all surviving this together and we’re all helping each other out.

Terri Dolan: At the end of the day, I feel pretty confident that Swannanoa, North Carolina, is going to have a better community to raise children in, to have businesses in than we did before the storm. I feel confident we’re going to get there.

Watch video here.