Typically, the winter months draw millions of visitors to the Blue Ridge Mountains, inviting hiking trails and live music venues. But all that is over for now.

Cape Cod Times photographer Steve Heaslip made a return trip to a North Carolina town devastated by Hurricane Helene in September.

An irrigation sprinkler system about 300 feet long lay overturned in a field, its steel pipes bent and welded joints broken. The mangled remains of a grain bin sat crumpled by a road. On a Friday in early December, Hopkins dragged burly limbs from the path of the tractor-like machine that picks his cotton crop six rows at a time.

The reopening of a section of Interstate 40 in western North Carolina that collapsed during Hurricane Helene’s historic flooding has been delayed after more asphalt from eastbound lanes fell this week,

North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper announces $15.5 million raised for long-term Hurricane Helene recovery, with additional funds from the NC Community Foundation aimed at supporting local nonprofits in western North Carolina.

The storm upended the Christmas tree industry in the state’s western region. Now, farmers and residents are eager for the comfort of the season’s rituals.