Life is on pause in Hendersonville, North Carolina. Hurricane Helene devastated the small city, located about 25 miles south of Asheville. Most people have not returned to work, and in some instances, there is no workplace to return to, because floodwaters swept entire buildings from their foundations.

Hendersonville resident Alexander Potter told The Daily Signal that neighbors have been the first line of defense in his community as people swung into action to ensure the elderly were taken care of and no one went hungry.

Potter anticipates the initial cleanup will take months. After spending several days on the ground talking with locals like Potter and seeing the devastation firsthand, The Daily Signal's Tim Kennedy says it will likely take years for the community to rebuild.

Hurricane Helene really was the perfect storm, dumping about 20 inches of rain in mountainous communities in the southeast and causing rivers, like the French Broad River in Asheville, North Carolina, to flood and become a deadly force, washing away roads, bridges, and buildings.

Kennedy joins "The Daily Signal Podcast" to share the stories of people such as Dianne Messer, whose entire mobile home community was affected by the storm, and to discuss how the locals view the federal government's response to the hurricane.