FEMA starts landslide study in Craigtown after Helene deaths

FEMA engineers have begun a major landslide-risk study in Craigtown, the Fairview community along Flat Creek Road and Old Fort Road where Hurricane Helene unleashed slides that killed 13 people. For families still living with the damage of Sept. 27, 2024, the key question is whether the study will lead to real mitigation work on unstable slopes, or only produce more maps and measurements.

The losses in Craigtown cut deep through one family and the surrounding community. Local reporting has said 11 of the dead were members of the Craig family, while Chase Garrell and Marsha Ball also died in the landslide zone. Fairview Volunteer Fire Department Battalion Chief Tony Garrison was killed while trying to rescue others, and his nephew Brandon Ruppe also died in the same disaster.

The study is part of a broader county recovery effort that has stretched far beyond the first months after Helene. Buncombe County’s Helene Recovery Plan lays out 114 projects to rebuild housing, repair infrastructure, restore natural resources, strengthen disaster preparedness and support long-term resilience. County engagement work through Envision Buncombe, which drew input from more than 2,600 residents in spring 2025, identified landslide stabilization as one of the community’s top priorities.

Craigtown is not the only slope under review. Buncombe County has also pursued FEMA-funded assessments for other landslide sites, including Garren Creek, a sign that officials are looking at multiple unstable hillsides left behind by Helene across the county. Those efforts point to a recovery that will not be finished quickly, especially in places where roads, homes and steep terrain remain intertwined.

For Craigtown families, the measure of this study will be practical. The work could help determine which slopes can be stabilized, what protections may be possible around homes on Flat Creek Road and Old Fort Road, and where the risk is too great to ignore. After the deaths of 13 people in one small Fairview community, the answer matters as much as the study itself.