Phil Harris finds himself at what you may call ground zero in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Buncombe County, where Hurricane Helene has left her fury and wrath and deadly destruction.
Call, if you will, what she has left behind beyond belief. Residents would agree.
“The devastation is catastrophic,” said Harris, 63, who is executive director of the American Red Cross serving the Sandhills of North Carolina headquartered in Fayetteville. “And the photos on social media and TV are indicative of the destruction across western North Carolina.”
Homes, businesses and lives have been shattered, and lives lost.
The death toll, according to The Asheville Citizen Times on Oct 4, was “at least 73” in western North Carolina, including 61 in Buncombe County. There were, according to the newspaper, nine in Yancey County, six in Henderson County and five in Avery County.
“There are many fatalities being reported in the media and lots of people still unaccounted for,” said Harris, who has been with the Red Cross for the past 11 years. “Rescue and response is hampered by no power, no cell, no internet, no open gas stations and damaged roads.”
According to The Associated Press, “A courthouse security officer died after being submerged inside his truck.,” and “a couple and a 6-year-old boy waiting to be rescued on a rooftop drowned when part of their home collapsed.”
And just 20 miles away, the village of Chimney Rock in Rutherford County and just up the way from Lake Lure, is simply decimated.
Helene was mean-spirited.
Helene was without conscience.
‘A huge storm was coming’
“It’s unbelievable here — unrecognizable in most areas,” said Leigh Coakley Pettus, who grew up in Fayetteville but now calls Asheville home. “It took three days for neighbors and us to clear three roads, so our neighborhood could get out. We estimate over 100 trees were moved to do so. The wind and water damage was extensive.”
Pettus says her home is OK, and she and her husband, Rich, have for now relocated to Folly Beach, just south of Charleston, South Carolina.
“Until it is safe to go home, and we can be back to helping others,” she said. “We were on the leeward side of the mountain, so we really lucked out. By walking down the lane, there was total devastation.”
Annette Winter is the designer for our monthly CityView magazine, and resides in Asheville.
“I am just getting gas after being stranded for days at a friend’s,” she said Wednesday. “I need to go to a Wi-Fi hotspot to get some files to CityView and check on my cat.”
Winter said what has unfolded has been “a blur,” but no damage to her home. “It’s hard to think straight with as little sleep as I’ve gotten the past week.”
Winter says she and neighbors were aware Hurricane Helene was making its way toward western North Carolina, and they knew it likely would be a time for “hunkering down” and riding out what might be heading Buncombe County’s way.
Day by day
It rained, she writes, throughout the night of Sept. 25.
“Texts starting flying in my friend group,” Winter wrote. “Someone had lost power, the wind was picking up. The news reports got more concerning — a huge storm was coming.”
Winter says she awoke on Sept. 26 to what she describes as “a loud boom and a bright flash,” — a utility transformer blowing up the hill from her home — and later to discover a small tree leaning on the roof of her home.
By Sept. 27, reality was setting in.
“Gas lines were long and there was grim news about the water situation,” Winter wrote. “Cash-only groceries, airport closed, a shooting on a gas line, a curfew, where to find water, where to find Wi-Fi. People leaving town. We were relying on getting texts from friends outside the area about what was happening — Chimney Rock gone, River Arts District submerged, bodies in refrigerated trucks in Swannanoa.”
Too much, she writes, to process.
And come Sept. 28, more unwelcome news.
“Texts about people leaving, no gas left, grocery stores sold out, still no power or water, how will we work, shelters full,” Winter writes in her diary, “death toll climbing.”
You get the picture.
Hurricane Helene has taken its toll.
Taken its toll on this scenic part of our state, where tourists enjoy the historic Biltmore House and walk its floral gardens of forsythia and colorful azaleas in spring bloom, or a weekend respite at the Omni Grove Park Inn, and a view of those majestic Blue Ridge Mountain.
‘If people want to help’
Gov. Roy Cooper and President Joe Biden visited the devastation from Hurricane Helene on Wednesday, where the governor described the devastation as “immense” and the president said 1,000 Fort Liberty soldiers will be a part of the recovery assistance.
Fayetteville Police Chief Kem Braden dispatched members of the department’s Urban Search and Rescue Team on Sept. 28 to western North Carolina.
“We have eight of our members in the area providing boat rescue support and operating our ATVs dropping off supplies and escorting individuals out of affected areas,” Braden said. “We have all the equipment necessary to perform these types of operations and have been supporting the efforts since Wednesday of last week.”
Phil Harris has been in Asheville since Wednesday of last week, too, along with Lori Nieves, Glenn Butler and Jennifer Arndt with the American Red Cross serving the Sandhills of North Carolina.
“We have over 500 Red Cross volunteers across North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida with numerous shelter and feeding operations underway,” Harris said. “Lots of need still exists. If people want to help, monetary donations are the quickest, most efficient way to help. Choose a reputable charity, because disaster relief is a ‘team sport.’ If people choose to gather items to send, please make sure you have a place for delivery. Things for personal comfort and hygiene are important. Also water, clean-up items and even pet food.”
He sees what this hurricane has done.
“The most frustrating thing for Asheville residents is the damaged infrastructure,” Harris said of cellphone service, power outages and water issues. “Power outages won’t allow gas to pump or credit cards to be used.”
Epilogue
Leigh Coakley Pettus gives thought to returning from Folley Beach to her Asheville home and to being there to help friends and others.
“The recovery is long-term,” she said, “and the stories will be many of gratitude and extreme sadness.”
Annette Winter reflects, too, on the havoc Hurricane Helene has left behind.
“I cry when watching the reels of what’s happened in this beautiful part of the Blue Ridge Mountains,” she writes in her diary. “This vibrant, eclectic town is brought to its knees. Lost lives swept down the river, destroyed homes and businesses, widespread suffering.
“So many are still missing.
“Thoughts swirl about the weeks to come,” Winter wrote. “Heating water on the stove for sponge baths will get very old, making plans to do laundry where someone has a well, hope my rain barrel stays full, how will Asheville recover, what does this do to tourism.
“It’s exhausting.
“But I have my life and my home,” Winter writes in her diary. “I have never felt this amount of gratitude for my friends and my random luck in so many ways. Gratitude is the silver lining on this cloud.”
Bill Kirby Jr. can be reached at billkirby49@gmail.com or 910-624-1961.
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