FLAT ROCK, N.C. – The road to recovery continues across western North Carolina.

More than 250 roads remain closed after being damaged or washed out during Helene, according to the North Carolina Department of Transportation.

But many crews and contractors are making progress by helping reopen more than 1,100 roads since the storm.

Ellis Pace and his company, Tarheel Paving & Asphalt Co., have aided in repairing nearly a dozen washed-out roads, some of which were state highways.

“You’re talking hundreds of roads that are completely gone,” Pace said. “You’re talking thousands of tons of rock that have to be delivered to these jobs to make sure you’re building from the ground up.”

Pace, who grew up in the Flat Rock area, was driving around as floodwaters took over main streets and devastated places that he’s gone to his whole life.

“It takes a toll on you, whether you’re from here, you live here, you call this place home,” Pace said. “It’s hard to deal with.”

Pace said he wasted little time picking up tools to assist his neighbors.

“It didn’t necessarily have to do with paving [at first],” Pace said. “We spent the first week going to people’s houses, cutting down trees where we needed to, removing trees… we try to run our business like a family business, so we try to help people in need.”

Pace said they’ve also worked on repairing culvert pipes, and fixing private roads and washed-out parking lots. But getting the rock to build back has created some bumps in the road for Pace’s business.

“Since the storm, we’ve had a hard time getting material to the job, because we can’t find any trucks to rent,” Pace said, adding the massive demand for material, like stone, is slowing things down. “We’re used to going to the rock quarry, and getting out in five minutes, right now it’s taking about an hour every trip you take.”

Snow and colder weather could further slow road repairs across western North Carolina. But Pace said he and others will keep working.

“Obviously there’s plenty of repairs that have to be done to make that happen,” Pace said. “It’s going to be an ongoing thing for years to come, but I think the people [in western N.C.] are strong enough and love this community enough to keep on doing what’s necessary to allow us to get back to where we were before the storm.”

Pace said he usually slows his business down right before Christmas to allow for maintenance work and other administrative tasks. But he’s planning to shut down only for two weeks, instead of their usual seven to eight, to keep helping with road repairs.