Seventy-nine billion dollars. That’s the official estimate of the destruction left behind by Hurricane Helene as the first anniversary of the storm is marked this weekend in communities across the southeast.
North Carolina bore the brunt of the storm. The death toll of 108 was the highest of any state, and the damage of $59 billion was three-quarters of the storm’s total. Official totals, though, can’t begin to describe all the impacts of the storm, which are still being felt in the many communities where the hurricane raged.
My family is from Western North Carolina, and there the hurricane’s power was intensified by the very Appalachian Mountains that natives believed had protected them from such disasters in the past. This time, the opposite was true. Mountain ridges and ravines funneled water into floods and mudslides so quickly that some people had no opportunity to escape.
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That is what happened to the Guinns. Jamie Guinn shared how his wife of 10 years, Melissa Guinn, was buried by a mudslide that also destroyed their home in Elk Park, North Carolina. The couple and their 9-year-old son, River, carefully watched the river that night just 20 feet below their house. Though the river surged, Jamie says he felt safe.
“Honestly, I just try to live minute by minute and make sure they are OK. As long as they are OK, I am good.”
What he didn’t know was that the hillside above him had destabilized. When Melissa asked him to get something from the garage, he opened the door to find the garage was gone. After that, things moved quickly. Jamie and his son were thrown into the river as their house broke apart over their heads. Melissa disappeared into the rubble and mud.
Jamie is putting the pieces of his life back together and recently moved his two sons into a new home.
“Honestly, I just try to live minute by minute and make sure they are OK. As long as they are OK, I am good,” he says.
In Swannanoa, North Carolina, Daniel Wright and his family partnered with Beloved Asheville to rebuild their storm-damaged house. He’s hoping construction will be done in time to allow his family to celebrate Christmas in their new home.
He says the help he received from his community and volunteers restored his faith in what was possible.
“It’s peace of mind to know that somebody’s got you all the way to the end of walking back into your house and hanging things on your walls,” he says.
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The storm also shuttered the area’s many small businesses. According to Mountain Biz Works, 83% of businesses closed down after the storm for an average of 42 days. Most have reopened, but not all.
In Spruce Pine, North Carolina, Helene sent the Toe River jumping its banks and washing into the small towns many shops and boutiques on Lower Street. David Niven and his wife Trish lost their 21-year coffee shop business, DT’s Blue Ridge Java, to that flood, which swamped the floors with several feet of mud. David describes his first look at the shop as “horrifying.”
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“When you lose everything, you’re a little bit numb. So, we were. We cried a lot. We didn’t know where we were going… We didn’t know if we could rebuild,” he says.
But David and Trish persisted. The two worked night and day to clear the site and rebuild. With the help of the local community and volunteers, many of whom David had never met before, the site slowly came to life. He and his wife took out a loan from a local organization and today, their restaurant is open again for business and thriving. The store expanded.
Throughout western North Carolina the need continues. Gov. Josh Stein recently requested $20 billion from federal coffers. But even that large sum won’t pay for all the damage. Stein estimates the total gap in funding at $45 billion.
“It’s peace of mind to know that somebody’s got you all the way to the end of walking back into your house and hanging things on your walls.”
But again, numbers don’t tell the story. It’s the faces and families that matter most. My own family is from Spruce Pine, only a few miles from DT’s front door.
And, what I know of this region is that it will be the people who live here who will solve their toughest problems, never giving up until they do.
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