BOONE, N.C. — It’s been nearly one year since Hurricane Helene slammed western North Carolina, but for one small mountain school near Boone, their battle is still very much uphill.
Channel 9’s Erika Jackson visited the Mountain Pathways School, where students aged 15 months to six years are back to learning. But the Montessori school has had to rebuild since the devastating storm.
“It’s very low-centered, because they’re small students. Three to four feet [of water] did a lot of damage and took everything with it,” Lindsay Galileo said, showing us the “Children’s House” at the school.
Just feet away, the Norwood House remains unrecognizable. Inches of mud coat the floor, shelves are off the hinges, and glass is scattered throughout the building.
“The power of the water was not something I understood. It knocked over everything. It warped our metal doors, it ripped off the door in the other building,” Galileo said.
The school doesn’t have space to teach elementary and middle school students yet. It’s one of many obstacles they’re up against right now.
“It’s going to be demolished by Army Corps, and we’re working with FEMA to hopefully rebuild an elementary building. But it’s low, it’s a flood plain, so the issue is the matter if we can salvage the land,” Galileo said.
Without the Norwood House, they can’t teach elementary and middle school students, so the school is struggling without that tuition and lost revenue from its cancelled summer camp.
Mountain Pathways has plans for a new building and new students, but Galileo says all she wants is something simple.
“I would just like to see stability, I would really like to see stability for Mountain Pathways,” she said.
(VIDEO: Remembering Helene: Experts discuss communication problems as anniversary approaches)
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