He wrote farewell notes on his cellphone to his two children and his two grandchildren as his garage and other debris floated past. “We didn’t think we were going to make it at all,” Bright said.

Two North Carolina locals who survived Hurricane Helene in September but suffered massive losses from the storm shared a single phrase from President Donald Trump that stuck with them during his Friday visit to hurricane-impacted areas.

Just because you don’t see somebody in a FEMA shirt walking on the streets the day after a disaster doesn’t mean FEMA is not there.”