N.C. Construction Company Helps Helene Recovery

The day after Hurricane Helene barreled into the tiny western North Carolina town of Barnardsville on the morning of Sept. 27, homebuilder Quincey Brock was worried.

The night before, part of his 70-man construction crew had been helping the local fire department prepare for the oncoming storm by clearing trees along roads in preparation for the destructive winds predicted by meteorologists.

But in those chaotic hours after the storm passed — and as it was only just becoming clear how catastrophic Helene had been for parts of Appalachia, killing hundreds and destroying vast swaths of property and infrastructure — Brock, 50, couldn’t get in touch with his crew.

“I didn’t know if they were alive,” he says. “We had no communication because there was no cell phone service. It was really stressful.”

Over the course of that day, as Brock approached locals to see if anyone had seen his workers, he was puzzled to hear people congratulating him, telling him, “Hey, you guys are heroes.”

The owner of Brock Mountain Homes, along with his wife, Cindy Brock, soon learned that his team had been working nonstop for the past 24 hours, using company construction equipment — ranging from 80,000-pound excavators to massive bulldozers — to quickly rebuild roads destroyed by the storm, allowing other community members to deliver food, medical supplies and fresh water to those who had been stranded.

Determined to help their community move forward, the couple and their crews say they have since worked around-the-clock continuing to rebuild upwards of 10 miles of roads, clearing away downed trees and landslide debris and even erecting cellphone towers to help the hard-hit North Carolina community of nearly 500 residents.

“Once we got the roads rebuilt,” says Cindy, 50, “people were delivering everything from diapers to insulin to tanks of oxygen. It’s like a well-orchestrated machine.”

Quincey adds: “Probably every home within a 10-mile stretch has been affected. There are places around here that just are no more. That’s mind-boggling to me.”

Megan Naylor, a 36-year-old lifelong North Carolinian and farmer in Barnardsville who has been busy delivering supplies to those in need, says that even amid the death and disaster, the hurricane has brought out the best in the community.

“We’re not waiting for people to come save us,” says Naylor, whose parents lost their home in the storm.

“They were rebuilding roads before any government agency could get here. I’ve never seen anything like it,” she says. “I mean, how do you just build a road? I guess where there’s a will, there’s a way.”

In recent days, the Brocks say they learned that the state would be compensating them for some of the recovery work they’ve done. Not that it mattered.

“Right after the storm I told my wife, ‘We’re going to do this. We may go bankrupt, but if that’s what it takes to save these people, so be it,’ ” Quincey says.

As for what comes next, he admits that the coming weeks and months ahead will undoubtedly be rocky, but Barnardsville — like so many other towns decimated by the storm’s 500-mile path of destruction — will bounce back.

“It’s going to take years,” says Quincey when asked about how the area will rebuild. “But we’re resilient. And everyone here in our little town has come together.”

To learn more about how to help with relief, recovery and rebuilding efforts from Hurricane Helene, click here.