This Burke County family has lived along the Catawba River since 1948. Helene destroyed their homes.

This story was originally published in October 2024.

With mud caked to the floor and her boots, Libby Morgan shuffled through books scattered along the wood floors of her home alongside the Catawba River in Burke County.

Most of the things she and her husband, Jim, had in their home had already been thrown into a pile outside and declared unsalvageable after torrential rain from the remnants of Hurricane Helene flooded their home. But in the pile of sopping wet books, Libby hoped to find a treasure more than 50 years old.

Their wedding album.

The white photo album was found on the other side of the room, mostly intact, though now covered in dirt and the photos soaking wet. The pictures show the couple in their early 20s, before Jim Morgan would start building their house on Libby’s fam