(25 Sep 2025)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
++ENDS ON A SOUNDBITE++
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Woodfin, North Carolina – 10 September 2025
1. Wide of people cleaning French Broad River
++PARTIALLY COVERED++
2. SOUNDBITE (English) Liz McGuirl, Story collector, Mountain True:
"After Helene hit and the rivers rose, there were so many people in the community that became afraid of the river. They became fearful and felt like the river had betrayed them. I knew it wasn’t the river’s fault that it rose, so I felt a responsibility to help heal the places and spaces that have healed me throughout time.”
ARCHIVE – ASSOCIATED PRESS
Asheville, North Carolina – 27 September 2024
3. River rushing through city street
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Woodfin, North Carolina – 10 September 2025
4. Tight of water in river
5. Various of McGuirl removing plastic pipe from river
6. McGuirl reacts to fish swimming out of pipe
7. Various of McGuirl carrying pipe
UPSOUND: He was living in there, but now he’s going to be a lot happier.
++PARTIALLY COVERED++
8. SOUNDBITE (English) Liz McGuirl, Story collector, MountainTrue:
“I lost my husband four years ago. I didn’t know what to do with myself after that, and so I just went to nature.”
9. Various of McGuirl and teammate on canoe during cleanup
++COVERED++
10. SOUNDBITE (English) Liz McGuirl, Story collector, MountainTrue:
“Nature and the rivers have always been the place that I go to shut out all the noise.”
11. Various of people removing pipe from river
++COVERED++
12. SOUNDBITE (English) Liz McGuirl, Story collector, MountainTrue:
“We got 10 million dollars from the state to set up these crews to work for 18 months. Which will give us a chance to make a very large dent in restoring and recovering these rivers out here."
++PARTIALLY COVERED++
13. SOUNDBITE (English) Leslie Beninato, Logistics manager, MountainTrue:
"Originally FEMA and the Army Corps of Engineers came in. They were contracted to do big, large, extreme debris. And then we came in after them, noticing they had kind of left a little bit more trash in their wake and we’re coming in with that delicate touch leaving it better than we found it.”
14. Cleanup crew paddling in raft
15. Crew pulling up pipe from riverbed
16. Beninato gathering pipe on raft
UPSOUND: Got it
17. Plastic pipe stacked in business parking lot
++COVERED++
18. SOUNDBITE (English) Leslie Beninato, Logistics manager, MountainTrue:
“With a lot of this pipe that has come from a local corporation. They cleaned up their property, but technically by law, they do not have to clean this up."
19. View of business next to the river
20. Pile of pipes on ground
21. Moving shot looking into riverbed with pipes at the bottom
++PARTIALLY COVERED++
22. SOUNDBITE (English) Liz McGuirl, Story collector, MountainTrue:
"It hurts my heart. It is sad. Especially because it’s more than just the pipes, too. It’s, you know, giant metal, who knows what and tires and all sorts of stuff still. Still not discouraged, still gonna keep doing it because somebody’s got to, but it’s heartbreaking. Very heartbreaking."
++ENDS ON A SOUNDBITE++
STORYLINE:
A catfish wriggles out of the broken length of PVC pipe as Liz McGuirl wrestles the debris from the rocky bottom of the French Broad River.
“Get it!” she cheered as it flops into the water and back toward the current. “He was living in there, but now he’s going to be a lot happier.”
Red-tailed hawks and osprey circle high overhead as the flotilla glides past banks lined with willow, sourwood and sycamore, ablaze with goldenrod and jewelweed.
Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork
Twitter: https://twitter.com/AP_Archive
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/APArchives
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/APNews/
You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/9863cbd49a474065bb807a536fd99a3a
Author: AP Archive
Go to Source
News post in September 30, 2025, 12:07 pm.
Visit Our Sponsor’s:
News Post In – News
