Long road to recovery ahead for outdoor tourism after Helene [Video]

ERWIN, Tenn. (WJHL) — Tourism-related businesses brought $17 million into Unicoi County and supported 160 jobs in the state’s most recent reporting period of 2023. However, the impact of Hurricane Helene has left a growing sector with a long road to recovery.

Clean-up at Erwin’s USA Raft Adventure Resort is moving along, but managing partner Matt Moses said his business will have to start small in the recovery process. Ahead of the flood, owners invested in new cabins and upgraded facilities, many of which washed away when the floodwaters rushed out of the Nolichucky Gorge on Sept. 27.

“We’re talking in the millions of what it would take to rebuild back to what we are or were,” Moses told News Channel 11.

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Even if the “new” USA Raft opens on a smaller scale, Moses is working hard to reopen the …