Hurricane Helene unleashed catastrophic flooding across western North Carolina, leaving behind heartbreaking stories of loss and survival. The hardest-hit areas witnessed unimaginable scenes:
- Crushed communities: In places like Cruso, entire homes were ripped from their foundations and swept away by raging floodwaters. Survivors described harrowing escapes, some clinging to rooftops for hours before being rescued. The once-familiar landscape is now unrecognizable, littered with debris and the remnants of lives shattered.
- Families torn apart: Tragically, the flooding claimed lives, including a 7-year-old boy swept away with his grandparents in Buncombe County. Many families are now grappling with the grief of losing loved ones while also facing the daunting task of rebuilding their lives.
- Stranded and isolated: Washed-out roads and downed power lines left communities cut off from the outside world. Residents in remote areas found themselves stranded for days without electricity, cell service, or access to clean water. Stories emerged of neighbors helping neighbors, sharing dwindling supplies and offering comfort in the face of despair.
Despite the devastation, stories of resilience and community spirit are also emerging. Volunteers are arriving with mules to deliver supplies to hard-to-reach areas, and first responders are working tirelessly to rescue those stranded and provide aid. The long road to recovery has begun, fueled by the determination of those who call these mountains home.
These are just a few of the many stories emerging from the flood-ravaged areas of North Carolina. The full extent of the damage is still being assessed, but it is clear that the impact of Hurricane Helene will be felt for years to come.
Beth Trigg posted on Facebook the following:
I don’t have a picture but I have a firsthand report that the bridge on Davidson Road is still out. Still has trees on it. There are people in there waiting for power, water and food. Please share to try to get the bridge cleared. Rob, our neighbor just brought some water and is bringing some coffee to one household with an elder. If you have people on the lower end of Davidson closer to New Salem, please let me know and we will try to get to them.
“I am not even close to being able to tell the story of the last 5 days in Swannanoa.
What I will say to people who are not in the hardest hit areas of WNC is that there are still huge gaps in communication and many of the worst things that happened have probably not been reported or even understood yet. People are sharing first hand accounts in person or by text that make it clear to me that there are still many, many fatalities that have not yet been discovered or confirmed.
I have personally spoken to people who have dug living and dead people out of a mudslide, seen their neighbors swept away by water, and seen bodies that haven’t been able to be recovered. We have heard stories from Montreat, Grovemont, Beacon Village, Botany Woods – these areas are miles apart from each other and each place really different from the others. A child told me he saw three houses slide down a slope into his neighborhood. Friends had to claw their way to safety with their 7 year old while their neighbors died in the river below them.
And that’s only what we’ve managed to glean about places here in the Swannanoa Valley from communicating with people we know and are directly encountering. It looks like there are multiple other parts of the region horribly hard hit – Marshall, Chimney Rock (“there’s nothing there”), Celo, maybe? Places they haven’t yet reached in Transylvania County? Haywood? So many roads blown out and who knows what’s on the other side. My sister and I each heard from nurse friends who have been working in different hospitals 50 miles apart that it is like a war zone.
As internet connections have returned we are seeing pictures of whole neighborhoods submerged, no doubt with residents in their homes. We don’t even begin to know the full extent of this yet.
Western North Carolina is full of creeks, rivers, gulleys, and all manner of flowing water. Roads and neighborhoods are often called “___ Creek” – Haw Creek, Bent Creek, Garren Creek, Gap Creek to name a few in Buncombe County. Communities are often named after the river that flows through them like South Toe in Yancey or Tuckaseigee in Jackson County. We have hollers and steep coves. We have steep terrain and windy 2-lane or 1-lane roads.
Here many people live in trailers. Houses and trailers are often down at the end of a road or tucked in a cove or in a neighborhood along a creek or river or down at the bottom of a valley or on a slope. Towns were built along rivers and neighborhoods tucked in here and there as towns and communities grew. Realtors highlight “bold creek” in home listings as a selling point. Trailer parks are often near creeks or rivers and many houses and roads are near streams, creeks, and rivers.
Sometimes things flood here. Certainly we had our share of flood struggles during the 15 years I lived on a small farm in a river valley. But this event was nothing we would have ever thought possible.
Our neighborhood and the whole Swannanoa Valley is in the purple zone of this map, where the chance of getting this amount of rainfall in 48 hours was once in 1000 years. Which maybe just means no one’s ever seen anything like that and there’s no precedent in history. Streets, neighborhoods, places have been wiped off the map. People had no chance to escape.
Schools are closed indefinitely. People are not even close to being able to go to work. We are focused on: Food. Water. Medication. Transportation. Hygiene. Who is alive. Who is missing. Who is dead. I feel like we are very much still in triage and cleanup hasn’t even really begun.
Please keep paying attention and drawing attention if you are not from here. This is going to be a long haul.
I am so profoundly grateful for community and the way people are showing up for each other here. How can we find a way through this unfathomable experience?”
How does this flood damage to the Great Flood of 1916?
Families & Pets Displaced by Helene: Join the Relief Effort
The recent devastation caused by Hurricane Helene has left countless families and their beloved pets in dire need of assistance. Thousands are struggling without shelter, power, basic supplies, and even the ability to communicate with loved ones due to the widespread flooding and wind damage across Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida.
To help those affected by this disaster, we are working with pet organizations and small businesses to establish a GoFundMe and Paypal account. These platforms will enable us to reach out to families who have lost their homes and are struggling to secure basic necessities like food, water, and shelter for themselves and their animals.
Many organizations are already working tirelessly to provide relief. Groups like The Y’all Squad and various GoFundMe campaigns are actively raising funds and providing essential support to accelerate recovery efforts in the affected areas. In addition, animal welfare organizations such as the ASPCA, the Bissell Pet Foundation, and the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) are on the ground providing emergency rescue, shelter, and veterinary care for displaced pets.
Your contribution, no matter how small, can make a significant difference in helping these families and their pets rebuild their lives.
Helene Flooding Drop-off Locations and Satellite Service
North Wilkesboro Speedway is serving as a collection site for those affected by Hurricane Helene in Western N.C. Donations can be dropped off at the speedway from 9AM – 5PM all week. Thank you for your support!
Starlink is offering the region free (trial) service for 30 days in the Hurricane Helene damage path. All you have to do is enter your address in the Starlink website. A tip is to ping off of existing nearby devices, because they’re still asking for $400+ fees for the hardware. Unless they get a Starlink device donated from a responder.