Four months after Tropical Storm Fred, Canton is still recovering

BPR News

It’s been four months since Tropical Storm Fred devastated Haywood County – leaving six dead and a long cleanup ahead. BPR takes us to Canton, one of the hardest hit areas, for a look at how the town is doing as the year ends. Caroline Ponton is the curator at the Canton Area Historical Museum in downtown Canton. Five months after the storm the museum still doesn’t have power. “This is the basement. The first time I came here everything was decimated,” said Ponton . Ponton shows around the bare basement where dry wall had to be torn out. She says 70 percent of the historical materials in the basement were lost but almost everything upstairs has been salvaged. Some of the prize pieces in the museum are Champion Paper Mill memorabilia. The mill – now Evergreen Packaging – is the main industry in the town. “After everything when I was allowed to come back the plastic tubs were floating in the water but everything on the inside was dry,” said Ponton. Ponton thanked the volunteers who were