<body><div><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=34HR0o_0wJjxnVt00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=34HR0o_0wJjxnVt00" width="800" height="500" >Mariel WilliamsDeanne Criswell, administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, accompanied Gov. Roy Cooper on a visit to Bakersville to survey flood damage last week.Cooper said he wants to help Bakersville and other mountain towns “get up and running as quickly as possible.”Mayor Charles E. Vines gave the visitors a tour of some of the flood damage near the Bakersville Town Office.“As I’ve been traveling with the governor to all these communities impacted so hard by Hurricane Helene, we see that the recovery is going to be very complicated,” Criswell said.In response to a question about a timeline for repairing state highways, Cooper was not specific.“We started out more than 1,200 roads that were closed,” Cooper said. “As of today, we’re down to 444, so we’re making progress. But we know that there’s going to be some of these roads that are going to require major repair.”Interstate 40 going into Tennessee, Cooper said, will need significant repairs.“Another challenge is bridges,” Cooper said. “There are more than 100 state-supported bridges that are out that we know we’re going to have to rebuild, but there are for more private-built bridges that lead to one or three or four homes in a community, that we need to try to secure funding for.”Both Criswell and Cooper said they were impressed with how members of flood-damaged communities have supported each other.“There’s just so much love — there’s so much of the community coming together to help each other,” Criswell said. “We now have an opportunity to work together to make sure as we rebuild we can do it in a way where we can reduce the impact of future storms, because as the severe weather continues to change and bring more devastation across the United States we want to make sure that we’re improving on the infrastructure.”Cooper expressed concern that being closed for an extended period could be harmful to businesses that normally depend on tourism to survive.“We want people to stay in Western North Carolina, we want small businesses to continue, to be able to operate and thrive so we want to be able to help them as much as they can.”Cooper also spoke about the importance of road and systems repairs.“Infrastructure challenges are our greatest challenges — making sure that the power grid is back, water and wastewater systems can work, getting roads and bridges and railways back and operational,” he said. “That’s going to be more of a long-term project.”Cooper noted that U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg would be joining him to tour flood-damaged areas and look at transportation damage.“We want to secure the billions of dollars that we’re going to need to heal Western North Carolina,” Cooper said. “We know that the challenges are great here — this is one of the hardest hit counties, but I continue to be amazed by the resilience and courage and determination of the people.”Vines said he was grateful for the governor’s interest in Bakersville’s future.“We all agree that this is a difficult time for us, however we will build back again,” Vines said.</div></body>

Mountain View, CA

NewsBreak

Cooper, Criswell survey damage in Bakersville

Deanne Criswell, administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, accompanied Gov. Roy Cooper on a visit to Bakersville to survey flood damage last week. Cooper said he wants to help Bakersville and other mountain towns “get up and running as quickly as possible.”. Mayor Charles E. Vines gave the...