Tomorrow marks the one year anniversary of the worst disaster I’ve ever lived through, Hurricane Helene. You can read my original post on the aftermath as we were living it on this post – Hurricane Helene Dealing With the Aftermath. Three days of rain before the hurricane arrived had already softened the ground and swollen rivers. The torrential rain and wind of the hurricane on top of that created massive flooding and uprooted trees causing such devastation that parts of our area may never recover. In our county, we got 24 inches of rain in just three days. It took two days of work after the day of the storm with small home chain saws by our neighbors to get a path through the trees across our road so we could get out if needed. Thankfully there were no medical emergencies on our road those three days.

The power was out as trees fell on lines, substations flooded and wind damage took out transformers. I took this picture of the power outage map the day after the storm. We were able to get one TV station over an antenna from South Carolina for just a bit of news. The darkest purple represents 100% power outage, and our county is just over the “G” in GSP. The announcer said to consider every road in Henderson county to be closed, and 100% of the power was out.

Getting out was indeed treacherous, as trees and power lines were down all over the county, and low lying roads were flooded and impassable. All the stores were closed, no gas stations were operating for two days. For us, we ventured out one time two days later to try to find generator oil, and were lucky enough to see an auto parts store just opening on the main road. We bought only what we needed, thankfully we had cash to do so, then crawled back home. At one point, we had to turn around and go back the way we came as the road was flooded. The line in the grocery store parking lot went down the sidewalk and then down an entire parking row with literally hundreds of people waiting as they were limiting the number of people inside at one time. No power meant all their refrigerated and frozen food had to be thrown away, and they could only take cash for payment.

All the roads were damaged or blocked either partially or fully, with lanes containing fallen trees or flooding over the road. It was scary to go under power lines tangled in the trees and dangling in the road. Traffic lights were not working, and people were not treating them as four way stops, so literally hundreds of wrecks occurred over the next few days.

The Blue Ridge Parkway suffered huge amounts of damage in several sections. Just a week ago, another section opened from East Asheville up to Mt Mitchell. It was closed just days short of a full year. There are still parts of the parkway closed farther north, that will not be fully repaired for another year, as retaining walls must be build to hold a new road. In the photo below, you should see two traffic lanes and shoulders, but the debris is so heavy, barely one lane is passable and only for a short space before trees cover the road.

After venturing out that one time, we stayed home for the next several days. We didn’t really need anything, we had food in the house and water from our well. We had a generator for power that we ran 10 hours a day – 5 in the morning and 5 in the evening – so we could conserve the power and not burn out the generator.

We worked together as neighbors to help each other, one loaning a generator to another, keeping things in our freezer, giving water to neighbors without power. We moved debris, and handed out bottles of water to the guys working hard. The flooding displaced thousands of yellow jackets, and some neighbors were stung, including My Sweet Babboo, as we tried to move the debris out of the road as best we could.

In the afternoons, I would hand sew or read in the Carolina room. Our power was out for 8 days, which was a lot less than I was expecting given our rural location. The temperature was pleasantly cool and it was so quiet. Sometimes I could get a text out, cell service came and went as the county moved portable towers around for service. I still have the text chains from that time, as friends gave updates on roads that were closed, traffic lights out, grocery stores that were struggling to open with cash only payment because the entire county had a power outage. It was here that I could sometimes get a text out to Mary to update you all on our facebook group that we were fine and had survived without any real damage to our home. I still have that text chain, too. I had to move all the flowers inside as the yellow jackets were buzzing around the veranda and I wanted them to leave.

We camped out at home, grilling food on the veranda and making hot dogs in my little hot pot that boils water. It didn’t take long to settle into a routine of making something to eat, doing some clean up or helping a neighbor, and having a rest on the back screen porch in the afternoon. Then turn on the generator and try to find a station we could see. We were lucky, only minor damage to our home with a bent gutter and a flattened fence in the back.

Help came from all over the US and Canada, as power line workers, relief organizations, FEMA and more converged on our area to restore power, and provide food to not only those who needed help, but all the responders and volunteer workers. It was amazing to see the way we all came together to recover. If only that spirit would remain. I was at our local quilt shop, Beginnings, about 2 weeks after the storm as they were hosting a hand work sew in just to get people together again. They didn’t have power to make any sales, but they wanted to be a gathering space. While we were there, power workers from as far away as Alaska got their power restored. We cheered! And then we shopped, LOL!!

As quilters do, our guild was getting emails about sending quilts while the storm was still raging on Friday! It was only a couple of weeks later that I and another guild member made the first trip into Chimney Rock to witness the devastation there and deliver quilts to people who lost everything. This photo was taken from the fire station looking down on what was left. Where you see the river, the banks are just sand and debris, where a lovely RV park full of trailers and trees used to be, and small businesses swept away. Nothing was left.

This photo should show a paved two lane road with more trees and trailer homes, but it is all gone. The asphalt just ends. Now, a year later, there is a temporary road here for local residents only. It may be another year or more before it opens up to the public again.

Heartbreaking damage was in Lake Lure, Chimney Rock, Bat Cave and Gerton.

So we delivered quilts to people displaced from the storm with winter coming, to first responders in police, fire and medical services, and those with damaged businesses. Our first delivery to Chimney Rock was distributed within hours.

We made several deliveries to Bat Cave, and Gerton, attempting to give a quilt to everyone at the two small churches in the areas. And I think we did.

One of three deliveries to Gerton, these were laid on the pews for congregants to choose one. Between this blog’s readers, our local guilds and quilt drives from a couple of quilt shops in the area, we distributed literally thousands of quilts to the hardest hit areas in our county along with Swannanoa, Black Mountain and counties farther north and west.

So how are we faring now? Some areas have recovered in cleaning up and businesses reopening, while some areas still are not repaired enough. Chimney Rock has a couple of businesses open now, including a restaurant, and locals are going there to help them back on their feet. Chimney Rock State Park is open again with a temporary bridge. The town is accessible from the south, and desperately needs tourists to come back. Lake Lure is open for business, although the lake has been drained for dredging tons of debris out of the lake bed. The Blue Ridge Parkway is mostly open, and also needs tourists to come back, patronize our restaurants and shops, and enjoy our views. Fall leaf season is on the way, and it should be nice this year. The Biltmore House is open again, and so is Biltmore Village, a charming area of shops and restaurants that would love to see more customers. Our small town of Hendersonville would welcome visitors to our charming downtown area and into our wonderful restaurants as well. Come visit if you can!

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