Aftermath of Hurricane Helene

Today we were trying to get to Oma after Hurrican Helene hit us at night. Oma was with Joe, so we weren't too worried, but there was ZERO communication. Internet was only possible through mobile units that stationed themselves around the area. Long story short, we could never get to Oma. All roads were blocked coming from West Hendersonville and going to East Hendersonville. We tried all routes. Everything was flooded. We often saw cars submerged. The only way to get anywhere near was to go 280 to Haywood Road, but there was no way to get through town. We were smart and got gas, because gas would become a hot commodity in the coming days. We had no choice but to come back home, stopping at the closed Etowah Ingles because it was the only place to get internet and service. Any pictures with a notation with my own. At home, I thank God I filled up our large bathtub with water (as we used it for the next week). And Brian busied himself learning how to work our generator which we would end up using for an hour onto every night. Short story of Helene will be repeated at the bottom of this post.

The Short Story of Hurricane Helene :

On the night of September 26 , 2024 Hurricane Helene hit North Carolina as a true representation of global warming and climate change. Asheville, Lake Lure & Chimney Rock were completely destroyed while all surrounding areas, including ours, were ravaged, and Helene would fight with Katrina as as deadliest Hurricane in modern US history with 238 officially dead, and probably many more deceased homeless. Water is the true killer of any hurricane, and we had both wind AND water. Our diciduous trees were not designed for this wind, and many of them came down, ruining countless homes. The biggest problem was the water reservoir and watershed located just north of Asheville. We had many days of rain, pre-storm. This had already filled the reservoir. Helene made it overflow and the resulting flood flowed into the valleys destroying everything in its path. This flood converged in Chimney Rock destroying the entire town and ended at Lake Lure which became a literal graveyard of homes, debris, ... and bodies. We would spend 1 week without power and 2.5 weeks without phone and internet. Our entire yard would be littered with fallen trees, our driveway blocked (our chainsaw owning neighbors would free us), and our outbuilding (a hopeful stables for my future goats) was destroyed, but our home was untouched!