Donna King
Carolina Journal
Editor’s Note: On Tuesday morning, a spokesperson from NCDOT told Carolina Journal that repairs are now underway to regain access to the community via the DOT low water bridge.
Some residents of western North Carolina are trapped again after rain over the weekend washed out a newly constructed DOT temporary bridge built as part of Hurricane Helene recovery efforts.
“Three months later, and here we are again,” said Cody Bradford of Little Creek in Yancey County. “We are trapped, and the road we built ourselves as a community, they blocked it off. We have no way out of here.”
Bradford, from the Little Creek of Burnsville, said he and his neighbors are trapped again after contractors for the North Carolina Department of Transportation blocked off the road repaired by members of the community. The contractors placed large boulders at either end of the repair and dug a large ditch to prevent the community from using it.
DOT contractors then built a temporary low-water bridge instead. The DOT’s bridge became compromised in this Sunday’s rains. The road repaired by the community is still intact, but now blocked by the boulders.
“The road that we fixed needs to be opened, the ditch they dug needs to be filled, and we need gravel on the road we built,” Bradford told Carolina Journal, sharing images of the damage and construction equipment. “They [DOT] said they were going to fix the low-water bridge, but it’s very compromised, and I don’t want to use it. People are having to walk in using the road we built. That is our only lifeline.”
Bradford said he is hearing of similar situations with DOT contractors happening across the region.
This area of Burnesville was cut off following the torrential rains and flooding brought by Hurricane Helene in late September. They waited for help for weeks, banding together to get supplies and medical attention to their most vulnerable neighbors, and getting elderly people out of the area with ATVs over the Bradford Gap, an old wagon trail forged decades ago by Bradford’s great-grandfather.
In mid-October, the North Carolina National Guard delivered generators and supplies via Chinook helicopter, but more help was still weeks away.
When it became clear that the Bradford Gap trail could lead to injuries and Hurricane Milton diverted some emergency officials to the Florida panhandle, Cody Bradford and 14 other neighbors took matters into their own hands. They used personal dump trailers, tractors, trucks, and a lot of elbow grease, to move 40 tons of rock and build access from their community to the outside world.
“Only one officer came in to help,” said Bradford. “The officer came in and told us that no one was coming, and said ‘do whatever ya’ll gotta do.’ We hauled about 40 tons of rock out of there in two days from daylight to dark, fixing about three-quarters of a mile. We found two culvert tiles and were able to get the elderly people out on the first day with four-wheelers and side-by-sides.”
Frustration with reconstruction is peaking in western North Carolina as communities try to rebuild regular access to their homes and get back to their regular jobs.
“I’ve lost work, and I’ve only gotten $750 from FEMA. This is tons of work,” said Bradford. “We went 38 days without power. We were the last to get power after the storm, the last to get out of here, the last to get help. We are just trying to get back what we lost, but now we are stuck again.”
Emails requesting an interview with Yancey County commissioners have not received a response by press time. A media official from the North Carolina Department of Transportation responded to CJ’s call Sunday night and said DOT is working to get more information about the situation in Little Creek. This story will be updated as details become available.
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