All Souls Cathedral bells ring again after Helene flood damage
The bells at All Souls Cathedral rang again on Sunday, marking Biltmore Village’s clearest sign yet of recovery after Helene flooded the 1896 church.
The bells at All Souls Episcopal Cathedral rang again on Sunday for the first time since Hurricane Helene flooded the Asheville landmark in 2024, giving Biltmore Village one of its clearest recovery milestones yet. The sound mattered because it was more than a church feature returning. It signaled that a visible piece of daily life in the village was beginning to come back after months of disruption.
Dean Sarah Hurlbert framed the moment as a hopeful sign for the cathedral and for the surrounding business district, where ordinary rhythms have been slow to return since the storm. The bells carried extra weight because the cathedral was also honoring graduating seniors during the Sunday service, turning a rebuilding update into a community gathering with emotional pull. For residents, merchants and church members watching for signs of momentum, the sound marked movement from emergency response toward a more recognizable public presence.
Helene struck western North Carolina on Sept. 26, 2024, and Asheville was among the hardest-hit areas. The Cathedral of All Souls flooded on Sept. 28 when the Swannanoa River overflowed its banks, sending water up to the altar and flooding the parish hall to the roof. Cleanup began in early October, with soaked cushions and prayer books removed and drying equipment brought in as workers tried to stop mold from spreading through the historic 1896 building.
The cathedral’s repair effort has been long and complicated. Parishioners were worshiping at Trinity Episcopal Church in Asheville as of Oct. 22, 2024 while the work continued, and a June 30, 2025 update said the building had suffered significant water damage and was not expected to reopen for worship until late 2026. Church leaders announced restoration plans in September 2025, a reminder that the return of the bells came well before full reopening and did not mean the broader recovery was finished.
The Diocese of Western North Carolina has treated Helene’s damage as a regional institutional crisis as much as a property problem. A June 2025 report said 23 churches across the diocese had been damaged by the storm, and the diocese marked the first anniversary with a Bearing Witness service at Lake Logan Conference Center on Sept. 27, 2025 that drew more than 350 people. In that context, the bells at All Souls stood out as a public signal that Biltmore Village is inching back from flood recovery toward something closer to normal life, even as major restoration work remains ahead.
This article was produced by Prism’s automated news system from verified source data, official records, and press releases, then run through automated quality and moderation checks before publishing. The system is built and supervised by the people who set the standards it runs under. Read our full AI policy.
Did this article answer your question?
