Gov. Josh Stein is requesting more than $1 billion from North Carolina lawmakers to help rebuild Western North Carolina following Hurricane Helene. Stein made his budget request Monday in Asheville. It includes $150 million across two grant programs for businesses that suffered physical damage or significant economic loss.

Speaking with a member of the French Broad Riverkeepers Program, News 13 has learned that not only are area rivers, specifically the French Broad River, wider after Helene, but they are deeper, too. With coastal hurricanes, those areas have more space for the water to move around, so the water will rise and then fall.