The “Guys from West Virginia” are building a road for Helen’s victims to return home

CHIMNEY ROCK, WV — Workers overcame red tape in Hurricane Helen-ravaged North Carolina, rebuilding highways at breakneck speed on their own terms, allowing residents to finally return home.

The West Virginia miners, affectionately known as the “West Virginia Boys” by locals, moved a mountain in just three days to reopen the 2.7-mile stretch of Highway 64 between Bath Cave and Chimney Rock that was washed away by Helen.

Chimney Rock residents who fled the hurricane a month ago will now be able to return home for the first time days, months earlier than they expected.

“The river swallowed the road, so I wasn’t home after the hurricane,” Robin Phillips, 49, told The Post.

“The guys from West Virginia moved mountains. By this time, all the roads simply disappeared. This is nothing short of miracles.

“I haven’t been in my house since the flood, but I know I will be able to very soon. Without their help, who knows, it would be months before I would be able to gain access to our home.”

Phillips and her husband also operate a Chimney Rock campground, she said. They cannot assess the state of their business after the hurricane has passed.

“For a small community like ours without many residents that could easily be overlooked, it’s unreal what they’re doing,” she said of the miners’ efforts.

Post earlier spoke to the “sole survivors” of Chimney Rockwho planned to spend a year on the open road until the road was rebuilt.

On Friday, The Post watched as miners balanced between a bulldozer and two excavators on the banks of the newly widened Broad River to move the last 20-ton granite boulder into place to restore access between the two towns.

The miners, who all volunteered their time, were too shy about building a highway without legal permission to speak on the record.

Representatives from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the North Carolina Department of Transportation and the local sheriff’s office visited the site, but turned a blind eye to the unauthorized construction.

Logan Campbell, 37, a volunteer from Mississippi, said the miners embody the American spirit.

“To see so many wonderful men, women, all races, all political views, none of that matters in these situations,” he told The Post.

“Weak people don’t show up for such a job, and if they do, it’s not for long.

“It’s so moving to see in the midst of all the heartbreak.

“It gives you so much hope for the American woman we all want to believe in and the America we want our children to experience.”

Campbell and his friend, 41-year-old Dan Lewis, have been sleeping in tents for the past 17 days, volunteering for residents of the hardest-hit cities.

“The various road crews came and said, ‘It’s impossible, the people who live between Bat Cave and Chimney Rock are going to be trapped all winter,'” said Lewis, who came to North Carolina from Oklahoma.

“The DOT (North Carolina Department of Transportation) said, ‘Yeah, we’re going to send some engineers over here to assess the situation.’

“Then the guys from West Virginia came and said, ‘We’ll do this road in about three days.’ “No,” he recalled.

“The Army Corps of Engineers took a look and said they would send some surveyors and engineers, the same thing the DOT said. I told them you might as well not waste your time because the West Virginia boys will have that road built before you finish your papers,” Lewis continued.

“This is a miracle. It is not clear what happened in the last few days.

Many in the area still feel abandoned by FEMA and other emergency responders.

Bat Cave resident Curtis McCarth, who was featured on The Post’s cover right after Helen, said he still hasn’t received any FEMA aid, but the agency has created a fire service to help residents work through their claims.

“This territory was left alone. I rode a horse and talked to people who didn’t see any officials,” Lewis told The Post.

“People in this situation should be able to rely on government and tax dollars, but that hasn’t happened.

“The first FEMA guy came in about a week ago. These people need to be provided with what they were promised on television. They are here, help them.

“I’ve heard stories of people getting money from FEMA, but not one person I’ve talked to has gotten money from FEMA.”