Looking back on hope and hardship a month after Tropical Storm Helene

ASHEVILLE – On the morning of September 27, a Fairview woman watched a house collapse with her neighbor and three dogs inside.

She begged an emergency operator to send help.

Less than half an hour earlier, a pharmacist had sent his wife a text message with the message how much he loved her and their two boys. A search and rescue team found the man’s body buried under rubble 11 days later. Nearby, flooding killed a 7-year-old child and his two grandparents.

In McDowell County that same morning, a wall of water tore a young couple apart. The two were engaged to be married. Only one of them survived.

In Yancey County, landslides and floods have not only killed residents, but also… the landscape transformed. In nearby Spruce Pine, in Mitchell County, Helene destroyed the city’s water treatment plant.

In Asheville the water system was so badly damaged that 160,000 customers were left without running water.

As Tropical Storm Helene raged through Western North Carolina, first responders rushed to save whoever they could as residents evacuated to shelters in an attempt to find a way out that wasn’t blocked by fallen trees. Many evacuees were unsure where they would ultimately return to after the Swannanoa and French Broad rivers crest at record levels.

The power went out. Cell service is down. The sun came out. Neighbors walked outside their homes checking on each other. A lot of gathered around the radios to find out what had happened.

Restaurants closed. Workers lost jobs. Tourists were told to stay away.

So far Helene has done that killed almost 100 people in North Carolina. Nearly a month later, 41 people are still missing, according to an Oct. 23 count from the state Department of Public Safety. That figure will likely continue to rise and fall as families of the missing continue to mourn a still uncertain loss.

The past few weeks have the governor, the chairman, the vice president And a former president all visited North Carolina to investigate recovery efforts.

With the general election less than two weeks away, voters are lining up at the polls reporters ask political experts from the region how this tragedy could somehow affect the outcome of the presidential race.

Yet most people in Asheville do not have running water to drink from or bathe in comfortably.

Looking back

“Tonight is for reflection, sharing our collective grief, remembering those we have lost, acknowledging our losses and recognizing how our lives will be forever changed by this event,” said Esther Manheimer, mayor of Asheville, on October 22. candlelight vigil to honor the community’s tremendous loss.

Meanwhile, the survivors continue on the only way they know how.

Some rebuild, while others live near the storm’s debris. Some move away, while others play football. Neighbors cry. Friends measure their loss against others who have suffered much worse. Some are simply too young to understand exactly what happened. They will just know the storm killed their classmates or destroyed their teachers’ houses.

Then there are those who are so young they will never remember what happened. They just read the stories.

Many of those stories aren’t just about loss amid Helene’s devastation – they’re about the community coming together in a time of need.

Nearly a month later, the Citizen Times revisited some of the people its reporters spoke to in the immediate aftermath of the storm. Many of the people we met are finding ways to move forward amid the uncertainty. Recovery will be a long process, one that will not come without enormous hardship.

But not without hope either.

Jacob Biba is the provincial watchdog reporter at the Asheville Citizen Times. Reach him at [email protected].