There are events in our lives that have an instant impact. Those of us old enough to remember September 11, 2001 probably remember where they were and how they learned of the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. The impact of 9/11 inspired Country Music Hall of Famer Alan Jackson to write the song, “Where Were You” (When the World Stopped Turning) which released in early 2002. For many across Southern Appalachia, late September 2024 has a similar feel. Many found their homes, vehicles, possessions and even family members had been lost in hard hitting, heavy flooding Hurricane Helene.
On this episode of Your Impact Story we are going back to the front lines of Hurricane Helene damage in western North Carolina. When this episode airs a few months will have past since the storm. It is amazing to see the impact so many people had as people from across the country joined together to support those who lost everything. There is more work to be done. This is Your Impact Story.
Hurricane Helene was a Category 4 hurricane that made landfall in Florida September 26, 2024 and made it’s way up the coast through Georgia, South and North Carolina. The storm brought record rainfall, flooding and storm surges causing extensive outages, mudslides, in some areas destroying entire towns. The storm was the deadliest to strike since Hurricane Katrina in 2005 with economic losses estimated over $50 billion.
My family was fortunate. The storm stayed mostly west of us and our only damage was a leak in our roof and a few downed trees around our farm. But across Western North Carolina, Georgia and East Tennessee, many’s lives were forever changed. Over that weekend I messaged and emailed several friends and contacts across Western NC. Several colleagues and friends were without power, water and a few had significant damage to their homes. Those who could respond were really in a state of shock. Unsure of the damage. Unsure of the needs. The extend would take days to process and fully grasp.
The more contacts I made and the more I saw on social media the more I felt I needed to take action.
On Sunday I heard back from Boone Chamber President David Jackson who gave me direction of what he’d heard to that point. I also heard back from friend and App State Football’s Coach Mark Speir who told me that App had some student athletes without water. A few messages to friends and we had a quick plan together that we’d round up all the water we could and head to Boone first thing Monday morning.
The next morning we had to make a few stops to find water. We finally found pallets of water at a Food Lion about 20 minutes from home and bought all they’d sell us. From there we were App State bound.
Going into Boone we didn’t see much destruction from the storm. In town we began to see low areas that were in bad shape or completely washed out. When we arrived at Kidd Brewer Stadium Coach Speir met us and let us into the Football locker room where we stacked two truck loads of water in the players lounge. While we were there we visited with a few Coaches and met Team Chaplain Reggie Hunt. While talking to Reggie and the coaches we learned that Reggie’s church, Cornerstone, was setting up as a drop location for food, water and supplies. We decided to head from App to Cornerstone to take supplies and see how we could help.
When we arrived at Cornerstone we unloaded our remaining supplies and saw a well organized distribution center in action. After unloading our trucks we helped a few others unload their vehicles.
We finished unloading a vehicle when a lady pulled in asking for water and help. She was crying. She told us she was from outside of Vilas and drove her car through the woods to get down to Boone because the roads were blocked by storm damage. Her father was sick and in need of emergency medical attention. We loaded her car with supplies and prayed with her. Our team was gathering to follow her back to get help to her father but we confirmed the fire department had reached him just before we left out. While in Boone we were introduced and dropped off baby supplies at the Children’s Council of Watauga. They shared what they needed and we ensured them we’d be back.
We grabbed lunch at a local restaurant that was one of the few places open. While at lunch we got a call from a contractor in West Jefferson that a big part of the small town of Lansing, NC had been washed out by the storm and they were looking for water to try to get to victims in that area. We still had a few cases of water in each truck that day and decided to head north out of Boone into Ashe county to take the last supplies we had with us. I will never forget pulling up and this big guy came out who was in the Fire Dept in Lansing and started crying talking about the damage there. He was so grateful for the few cases of water we had brought.
Seeing the need first hand reminded us that the work to be done was still very unclear but extensive. We knew our work wasn’t done. Several guys in our group made several trips during the week following the storm doing everything from cutting trees and debris removal, taking supplies to families and more.
A few days later we returned with a bigger group and met at Alliance Bible Fellowship where Samaritans Purse Disaster Relief assembled employees and volunteers. Thanks to our friend Mark Speir whose wife Paige works for Samaritans Purse, we were introduced to Edward Graham and several leaders in their incredible organization. I had volunteered with Operation Christmas Child a few times over the last few years, but instantly gained a new appreciation for the ministry that is Samaritans Purse Disaster Relief.
After training we went in an effort to find needs and support any rescue efforts with the supplies we had with us. We were told that parts of Avery County had not been reached with supplies and at that time it was unknown exactly what was needed there.
We went to Avery County with no other instruction or direction. We had several trucks loaded with supplies, side by sides, chain saws, fuel, food and water. We wanted to get as far in as possible.
Most maps showed roads closed in all directions once we were just outside of Boone. We met at Avery High School with no plan. A sheriff came by and stopped to see what we were doing. He gave us insight that FEMA was setup at the fairgrounds and there were several ongoing rescue efforts close to the TN line but he was unsure of what we could do to support.
Finding ground zero was way harder than you’d think. Honestly it was like God continued to lead us where we needed to be one contact at a time. We parked in what looked like an abandoned store that had significant storm damage and unloaded our side by sides and equipment. We turned down a random road only because it looked to go down the mountain. Really no other reason. Within a half mile the shoulder of the road was washed out by the creek. Further down the road one lane of the road was completely washed away and an excavator was blocking what was left of the road trying to prevent additional erosion. He let us through. About a mile or so further we were stopped by a construction crew working where the road use to be and the bridge was out. We pulled up beside a few other Side by sides that was the US Forestry Service. After a lot of discussion they told us we could follow them in once the construction crew gave them the green light to cross. We made our way through and met an unmarked SUV. He asked where we were headed. We told him we were there to help and looking where we needed to take supplies. He told us a rescue mission was underway at the end of the road and we couldn’t miss it as there were probably 15 emergency vehicles there where the road ends.
As we pulled down to the end of the road where the bridge had washed out, we were met by a Fire Chief we learned was over the operation we had arrived at. He went through the same line of questions others up the road had. I had a feeling that we were getting ready to be turned around. As I was talking with him a man walked up with a backpack and said did you say you had shovels with you. I told him we did. He looked at the Chief and said they are with me. He jumped on my Ranger and led us down where the other trucks were as a helicopter flew overhead and landed where we were going. He introduced himself and told me he was a Army Ranger and had come up on his own to help with the search and rescue efforts. They had just come back from hiking the river and found what appeared to be the floor of a house washed up a bank. They were trying to get the Search & Rescue team and their dogs down there and needed help possibly digging if the dogs marked anything.
When the helicopter landed, out jumped my friend Marcus Draughn and his team from Winston Fire Department’s Swift Water Rescue.
We loaded up their teams and worked our way to the rivers edge. There were I beams across the river in a make shift bridge. They asked if I thought we could cross it. I told them I’d try as long as they’d get me out of the river if I went in. I figured I was in good hands. We managed to cross the river and drove back for a short distance on what was left of the road along the river and then ventured up an old logging trail and a power line easement. We got to an area up the mountain and they stopped us and said ok we need to use saws and cut a path down the river. We worked our way down and about 50-75 feet up the bank from the waters edge was an entire floor of a house. It was an eary site and feeling. We stood by with shovels and axes in hand as the team worked the pile for probably close to an hour. A helicopter flew over and dropped others on a small island to search. We participated in the search all afternoon with no luck.
We learned while we were searching that we were looking for Cary school teacher who went to Elk Park with her husband to check on their home. While there the flood waters broke the house from it’s foundation and sent it down the river. Her husband managed to escape to safety but his wife ended up in the cold flood waters and at the time this is recorded is still missing. So tragic for their family.
As we took the crews back across the river we met a man carrying grocery bags across the I beam bridge. We were three miles from the main road and further from any store. I really don’t know how far he had to go to get what he was carrying. I pulled up and offered to give him a hand. He pointed behind me to a truck parked over to the side beyond where we had been. He told me that was his driveway. We visited for a few minutes after he got everything in his truck. He told me there were people on the backside of the mountain from his place who had been walking to him because he was the closest but there were so many more people without road access from the storm damage that needed to be reached. Hard to imagine.
We headed out soon after dropping the rescue teams off at their vehicles as another group was coming in to help. We drove back up to where we had parked. An older gentlemen was in the same parking lot. We offered him a drink and he teared up. We learned the shop behind us was his and had been badly damaged by the storm with most of the inside well over ankle deep in river mud that settled inside. Our team gave him what drinks we had remaining and began to shovel what we could of the front of his shop. We gave it all we could for about an hour to get most of the front room where it no longer had standing water and the mud out. I lost count at 25 wheel barrow loads of mud. We prayed with him and went on our way. Hard to leave, but thankful we crossed paths at the time we did so we could help all we could at that time.
Over the next two weeks myself and our teams had the opportunity to collaborate with Samaritans Purse, Avery County Emergency Services and volunteers on several cleanup jobs. Caterpillar donated the use of 3 autonomous machines to use during the relief efforts. Contractors, Demo Operators and many others donated their time to support these relief efforts. Many continue today.
The cleanup work continues. The needs are still there and will be for a long time to come. Soon after this episode airs, we will return to Western North Carolina and visit some of the places months after the storm. We will be interviewing those who were effected and those who took the tools and resources they had an created impact.
If you’d like to support the continued relief efforts reach out to us on social media and we will try to align your support with the right resources and contacts.
I am Dustin Rogers. This is Your Impact Story.
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