Wondering what it was like to survive Hurricane Helene in the Carolina Mountains? Two natives and Rethink:Rural writers share their experiences and lessons learned from this 1000 year flood.
From Award-Winning Author and Rethink:Rural Contributor, Jim Mize:
Hurricane Helene had been downgraded to a tropical storm by the time it hit the Carolina mountains. Still, the massive rainfall and strong winds flooded river drainages, uprooted and snapped trees, disrupted electrical and communication networks and washed out roads.
I was one of the lucky ones. The trees that fell missed my cabin. Also, my cabin is located far enough up the mountain that flooding is not an issue. But, I still found myself without power or communication for eight days, and for the first several days, I could not drive anywhere due to trees blocking the roads, and in some cases, the roads were washed away.
In anticipation of the storm, I had prepared.
I had emergency supplies like non-perishable food, water, medicines and flashlights. The truck was filled with gas, and I recently improved the cabin's drainage.
Expecting to lose power, I filled my freezer with ice and freezer packs. Also, I got a little extra cash in case I needed it, which I did.
As prepared as I thought I was, I learned a few things I’ll share.
The storm began with a cold front that delivered four inches of rain at my cabin just prior to Tropical Storm Helene’s arrival. So, the ground was saturated, and trees that could have been uprooted by wind were primed to do so.
As Helene arrived, the power went out, and the wind roared, gusting well over fifty miles per hour. Branches bounced off my tin roof, and the silence inside the house made the storm sound even louder. The rain continued until seventeen inches had fallen.
When I was able to walk the road leaving my house, I surveyed the damage.
Trees blocked the roads in all directions. I had no phone signal at the cabin but found I could get one about a mile from the house. For the most part, the homes in our neighborhood were spared. One had a tree leaning on it and many had trees fallen across their driveways. Luckily, the trees missed their vehicles.
As the days passed, I learned five lessons from the experience.
First Lesson: Water Is Your Most Critical Resource
In our small neighborhood, a generator keeps the pumps going during a power outage. That proved sufficient even though the propane powering the generator got low enough for concern. Without road access, propane trucks couldn’t get in to refuel the generator until about the fifth day.
But with water, I could manage and discovered that all my other utilities were mostly for my convenience. Cold showers were still preferable to no showers. Plus, they were quicker.
Second Lesson: Stay Home Early On
Early on, during such a disaster, the best thing you can do is stay home. Trying to navigate through downed trees and washed-out roads can be dangerous at worst, and at best, you will be in the way of crews trying to clear the mess. It’s better to avoid becoming part of the problem unless there’s an emergency.
Also, several counties were under curfew, and with good reason. Besides the fallen trees, many roads were covered with leaf litter and mud, obscuring lines marking lanes in the middle and on the edges. Without these guides, it would be too easy in the dark to miss a turn in the road and end up in a ditch or worse.
Several days later, when I got out, communications were not restored to the local grocery store, so they couldn’t process bank cards. The cash came in handy.
Third Lesson: Develop A Network of Local Information
In our neighborhood, people began to gather where we could get a phone signal and exchange information. This was formalized into a daily meeting at a set time where we could share what we knew.
Several people were networked with local fire departments and others involved in restoring utilities so we could judge the progress and best tell when it was safe to travel and which routes to take.
Fourth Lesson: Batteries Work Best Versus Rechargables
As much as I like rechargeable flashlights and other devices, during an extended utility outage batteries worked better.
By day three of the outage, my rechargeables were dead, but my batteries could be swapped out on standard devices. Sure, I could recharge my phone and critical devices in my truck, but since I wasn’t traveling, I chose not to recharge them unless necessary.
Fifth Lesson: Know Food Saftey
Last, a little food safety knowledge becomes extremely valuable at such times.
I routinely keep a meat thermometer in my refrigerator. As temperatures in my fridge rose, I tossed the food and moved the thermometer to my freezer. I cooked the most perishable items first and monitored the temperatures on the thermometer. For guidelines on food safety during a power outage, click on this link.
My concern was that getting food poisoning while being isolated would be life-threatening.
Tossing a little food as it became questionable was a small price to pay. And it’s worth remembering that spoilage is both a time and temperature phenomenon, so as the temperature slowly rose in my freezer and the days passed, I judged the risk too great.
Hopefully, Hurricane Helene will be one of those events that occurs once every five hundred years, that we’re spared for a while and the communities have a chance to recover. But I’ve expanded my hurricane kit to include Sterno cans to make morning coffee and extra batteries for the lantern I read by at night when the power’s off.
Small luxuries can become big ones under dire circumstances.
From Rethink: Rural Author and Editor, Kristen Boye
Like Jim, our family and close neighbors were some of the lucky ones.
We live about 5 minutes from one of the hardest hit areas, the Swannanoa River Valley.
Flooding and flash flooding happen here, but it’s never as bad as they say, which is why very few were prepared. And really, how can you be fully prepared for a “500” or “1000” year flood?
Fortunately, what I’ve learned writing and editing for Rethink:Rural over the past nine years and our homesteading lifestyle made us more prepared than most.
What we didn’t realize is that we were preparing not just for ourselves but for our neighbors.
Here are five lessons we learned that we hope will help save lives and hardship for others.
Lesson 1: A 55-gallon drum of water is essential, and if you can, buy several
Unlike Jim, we did lose water shortly after the storm.
The day before, I told my husband we’d better fill our 55-gallon drum with fresh water just in case. We probably wouldn’t need it, but it couldn’t hurt.
Not only did we need it (even after stashing 10 gallons of filtered water in glass bottles), but we were able to share it with our neighbors, who would have been in dire straights without it those first few days.
We had a 55-gallon water barrel with a special drum pump attachment and drum wrench on hand for emergencies, which we stored in the basement.
These are inexpensive and easy to come by. We’re buying more after this.
The barrel should be washed with hot, soapy water, sanitized with bleach or peroxide before use and thoroughly rinsed.
From there, ideally, you’d fill it with a new or sanitized hose to prevent contamination, then cover the hose ends with a taped storage bag to prevent contamination.
I admit we did not have a dedicated hose, but we cleaned the nozzle before filling up the water.
We’re on city water (even though we’re rural), so the chlorine in it is enough to preserve the stored water. You can also buy water preservation products if you have a well or need extra protection.
FEMA offers these guidelines for using bleach to sanitize water.
Learn more in: How To Access And Purify Water In An Emergency.
If a 55-gallon barrel isn’t feasible, things like a WaterBob — a sterile liner you put in the bathtub with a pump to fill with fresh water, various water jugs, repurposed gallon apple juice bottles (we used ours from Azure Standard) or stackable water bricks are all excellent for water storage.
FEMA recommends having 3 days of emergency food and water on hand[1].
I found this laughable before Helene (my in-laws live in Chile and have gone through some intense earthquakes and other natural disasters), and by day three and four, there were very few places distributing food and water.
Plus, many people were still trapped by fallen trees, flooding or washed out bridges and couldn’t get out to access supplies.
My recommendation? Keep a minimum of two weeks or more of water on hand.
Estimate at least 1 gallon per person per day for drinking, cooking, bathing and flushing (and yes, peeing outside is a great way to save water; just ask my 5-year-old son!).
A 55-gallon barrel works out to be about 2 weeks’ worth of clean water for a family of four and can last longer if you find a source of non-potable water for flushing and dishes (boil it first for dishes).
Remember, you’re not just preparing for yourself. You’re also preparing for your neighbors and family, who may lean on you in these situations.
Could you turn them away when they come to you distressed or near panic on day two or three because they’re about to run out of water or food?
I couldn’t and wouldn’t, which is why we’ll have even more water on hand in the future.
We also keep a healthy stash of non-perishable food on-hand for emergencies, we grow and preserve some of our own food and because we buy in bulk.
I’d recommend having at least a month’s worth of food on hand, or more, not three days.
This is especially true if you’re in a very remote area that may not be accessible due to flooding, earthquakes, washed-out or collapsed bridges, fallen trees, etc.
Lesson 2: A landline may save your life
Very few people keep landlines these days because cell phones typically work most of the time.
We have one because cell service is spotty here in the mountains, and it came in handy during Helene. Not because it worked during the storm but because of the call we received on it the night before the power went out.
Thursday night at 10:30 (the storm hit with a vengeance Friday morning), we got a recorded call that came up as “Spam Risk” on caller ID. We answered it anyway. It was from the City of Asheville telling everyone in the Swannonoa or French Broad River tributaries to evacuate.
This did not apply to us as we are up high enough and far enough from the river. However, I had a moment of panic, and that’s when the severity of the situation really hit us.
We did not receive this call on our cell phones, only the landline.
Sadly, many residents, including those who lived very close to the rivers, did not get this call. This may be due to out-of-town cell phone numbers or other reasons.
I heard that the National Guard evacuated some people on the rivers in person that night and the next morning.
Regardless, that phone call would have saved our lives if we had been in the flood zone.
I only wish we could return to copper lines, as our landline, like our cell phones, was useless for communication once the power went out.
Lesson 3: Cultivating goodwill with your neighbors is essential. So are chainsaws.
I cannot emphasize how much our neighbors helped each other after the storm.
Were it not for men with chainsaws and neighbors with heavy equipment donating their precious time (and fuel!) our very long rural road, some of which had been washed out by a creek-turned-river that re-diverted itself through a pasture and the road (photo below), would not have been passable within a few hours.
The county wasn’t out here, the city wasn’t out here and the fire department couldn’t get to our side of the road due to flooding and dozens of downed trees (and these were big trees).
Clearing our road and driveways was accomplished entirely by private citizens with chainsaws.
This included working all hours of the day and night to build a temporary bridge to rescue people trapped in a neighborhood just minutes away.
I don’t share this to knock local, state, private or federal rescue services AT ALL, as they have been amazing. We appreciate them to no end.
The point is they could not get to us for days, so private citizens stepped up.
Time spent visiting with neighbors, helping them chainsaw trees, sharing water, sharing conversation, swapping information about roads and other local news, my daughter playing piano for them, having playdates with neighborhood kids, etc., all meant so much during those first uncertain days.
Build goodwill with your neighbors, even if you’re in a rural area. You never know when you’ll really need their help and support.
And definitely get yourself a chainsaw and learn how to use it safely.
Lesson 4: Being in shape proved incredibly valuable, especially when hauling water
As a health writer, I’ve learned too much about preventable diseases not to stay in shape.
As a 44-year-old mama of two and homesteader, this means lifting heavy weights three times a week, hiking the local trails and doing yoga once a week to balance it all out.
My husband also stays in shape using a suspension trainer, playing hockey and doing his farm work.
I’d heard about the benefits of staying in shape as a form of preparedness before but had never experienced these benefits until Helene.
The days immediately following the storm were physically demanding, to say the least.
We truly believe action is the best remedy for anxiety, so we sprang into action chainsawing trees, cleaning up branches, visiting neighbors and doing wellness checks (no communication means you walk a heck of a lot!) and hauling buckets upon buckets of water for ourselves and neighbors from the pipe connected to our sump pump for flushing and dishwashing.
We were exhausted by the end of the day, but had we not been in good shape we probably would have hurt ourselves or been unable to be of service in the way we were.
Stay in shape; if you’re not, now’s the time to start. Not because you want to look a certain way or lift a certain amount, but because being strong is an incredible form of self-preservation and preparedness.
Lifting heavy weights, suspension training, chopping wood, farm work, hiking/walking, playing sports and yoga were all perfect exercises to prepare and sustain us during Helene.
We have some helpful tips about that in: 10 Ways Country Life Can Be Your Best Personal Trainer
Lesson 5: Fuel is gold, a siphon is silver
The evening before the storm I went to the store to get an extra propane tank, fill our gas can for the generator and buy some groceries.
I was surprised to see how few people were stocking up on supplies. I was the only one at the propane tank station and didn’t see anyone else filling up gas cans.
Although I filled up our SUV, I regret only filling one gas can. I should have filled several, and I will next time.
Our generator (which is a must-have too!) had to be kept going to charge our sump pumps, which have 24-hour battery life and were working extremely hard.
If those ran out of juice, our basement would have flooded again and our extra source of water would have dried up fast.
We ran out of extra fuel on the second day, forcing us to go out in search of some.
This is when we began to see the destruction of the storm: a motel for veterans in the middle of a road (I learned later the veterans were evacuated by the national guard), bridges destroyed, entire sections of stores, neighborhoods and roads completely gone and the path of the typically peaceful river looked like a bomb had ripped through.
We didn’t find fuel, so my husband had a plan B: siphon gas from our lawn mower and second car.
Siphoning gas out of the mower was easy, but the siphon wasn’t long enough for the car.
Fortunately, my husband is mechanical and prepping-minded, and we have an older neighbor with just about any tool you could ever want in his large shed.
So, he jerry-rigged a car siphon, which worked, albeit painfully slow. Regardless, it kept the generator going.
The lesson: one can of fuel is good, but more would have been better. Always fill up your cars. And, have a proper siphon just in case.
Closing thoughts
Like Jim, we are very fortunate we are safe, our home is safe and our property did not sustain any major damage.
We owe much of this to luck, the kindness of neighbors and strangers and sound preparedness, like stashing extra water, food and supplies and reading up on emergency preparedness and survival skills.
As mentioned previously, they call this the “500 or 1000-year flood” because there is no record of anything like it happening in our neck of the woods.
Appalachia is typically where hurricanes and storms come to die, not rage. We rarely even get thunderstorms here.
The big lesson is that if this level of flooding and wind could happen here, in the safety and elevation of the mountains, it could happen in other atypical places.
Take these lessons to heart and be well prepared. Not just right before an emergency but well ahead of time.
I speak from experience when I say it’s entirely worth the investment.
If you would like to help victims of Hurricane Helene, the following agencies and non-profits are providing legitimate and tireless relief:
- BeLoved Asheville
- Bounty and Soul
- Samaritan’s Purse (these people are everywhere!)
- United Way Of Asheville And Buncombe County
- All Hands And Hearts
- American Red Cross
Photo credits: Jim Mize, Kristen Boye, Rolando Boye, and Deborah Singer-Stuart
