As you say, regardless of what one thinks about the climate change narrative storms like this have always happened, even if they are rare.

Western North Carolina rarely sees much impact from hurricanes, and even in this case the winds were greatly slowed compared to what they were at the coast (though still strong enough to topple trees). For example, I haven't heard of a single building being destroyed by wind alone - which is a common occurrence near the coast during a hurricane. In every case I've heard of there was a tree or flooding involved. While flooding occurs fairly frequently in the area the scale of this storm is a once in multiple centuries event. In that sense it's not surprising that the people in this area were not really prepared for this level of devastation. It should be a reminder though that a once in 500 years event is not really such a rarity, especially when you consider that there are multiple types of such disasters and many different localities where they can happen.

As you say, the disaster relief official was deflecting.

Looking at videos of some of the washed away roads I also can't help think that maybe they shouldn't rebuild them in the same place. Though I understand the appeal of building roads where it looks easiest, for certain key roads having another hundred feet laterally from the river with an extra thirty feet of elevation would have kept them open.