As the floods subside, uncertainty rises
As the floods subside, uncertainty rises
A town's residents hunt for information — and say it could take years to return to normal
Good morning! Today is Monday, September 30, 2024. You’re reading The Charlotte Ledger, an e-newsletter with local business-y news and insights for Charlotte, N.C.
Need to subscribe — or upgrade your Ledger e-newsletter subscription? Details here.
Today's Charlotte Ledger is sponsored by Tryon Medical Partners. We notice when our patients recommend us to their family and friends. NRC Healthcare does, too. Thank you for helping us earn an Excellence in Patient Experience Award. Learn more.
LEDGER IN-DEPTH
In Black Mountain, east of Asheville, residents encounter blocked roads, short supplies and unimaginable damage; ‘I have never been more scared in my life’
The bridge crossing the Swannanoa River on Blue Ridge Road in Black Mountain was swept away by flood waters. (Photo courtesy of Rey Castillo Jr.)
by Lindsey Banks
As Hurricane Helene approached the coast of Florida on Thursday night, residents in the N.C. mountain town of Black Mountain went to bed expecting strong winds, heavy rain and some flooding.
Some prepared with sandbags, stocked up on water bottles and filled up their bathtubs. Most in the town, 15 miles east of Asheville, knew a storm was headed their way. But they didn’t think it was going to be that severe.
Zuleyma Hernandez, who lives with her family along the Swannanoa River near the town’s high school, found out differently at 6 a.m. Friday. That’s when the fire department started banging on her door, telling her to evacuate. The sound was so muffled against the rain, she said later, that many of her neighbors didn’t hear. Once awake, she and her parents went around banging on the doors of nearby homes that had cars parked out front.
When they went to leave, they encountered fallen trees blocking the exits to the neighborhood. So they sought higher ground at Hernandez’s aunt’s house in the same neighborhood, farther from the river.
After the rain subsided Friday afternoon, residents of Black Mountain ventured out to survey the damage, and they found their town dramatically changed.
In some spots, only the roofs of many homes and local businesses were visible above the brown, murky flood water. In other areas, large oak, pine and maple trees were down, blocking roads, lying across power lines and crushing homes.
Parking lots looked like lakes. The tops of cars resembled islands. Chunks of major roads and bridges had been washed away. Whole trailer homes were carried down the streets with the water or on a mudslide.
When Hernandez’s parents went back down the hill to survey the damage to their home, they found it destroyed. They lost everything.
Information hard to come by
It is a scene that played out tragically over the last few days throughout Western North Carolina, where fast-rising flood waters swept away homes, washed out roads and devastated lives.
Black Mountain is one of many mountain towns still coming to terms with the extent of the damage and suffering, as knocked-out power and internet service have left many residents and the outside world in the dark.
Black Mountain is one of the places that received the most rain from the storm, an estimated 13+ inches over the course of two days. It’s also where I grew up. I went to that high school down the street from Hernandez’s house. My parents and two brothers still live there.
The before and after of the only road in and out of Charles D. Owen High School, Camp Rockmont and neighborhoods on Lake Eden Road. (Left photo from Google Maps, right photo from social media)
My mother recalls her grandmother telling her the story of the Great Flood of 1916, which dumped 15 to 22 inches of rain in 24 hours and killed more than 80 people.
I’ve spent the last two days trying to connect with friends and relatives in Black Mountain, to make sure they’re OK and to tell the town’s story. I got a taste of the communications troubles mountain residents have experienced since Friday — the difficulty of getting reliable information, with texts that don’t go through and spotty or nonexistent phone service. Some conversations with my contacts were brief or abruptly cut off, and sometimes my text messages wouldn’t deliver for a few hours.
With limited power and cell service across the area, word of mouth has been the main way for people to get information. For those with fleeting or unreliable connections, Facebook has become a lifeline, a source of valuable leads on finding open roads and supplies, and posting about missing loved ones or inquiries about certain parts of town. It has also contained rumors that are unverified.
What I’ve learned in talking with a half-dozen Black Mountain residents this weekend is this: That as horrific as the flooding was, the danger isn’t over. Hundreds of people who live on the side of the mountain were still trapped over the weekend, with no road to drive out and no way to call 911.
Black Mountain is about 90 miles west of Charlotte, outside Asheville.
There are still plenty of challenges that are only beginning to be addressed.
Looking at the damage to the town, residents believe it will be weeks if not months until power and water return — and until they’re able to know how many lives the storm took. Authorities with Buncombe County, where Asheville and Black Mountain are located, said Sunday that there are 30 confirmed deaths in the county from the storm. There are more than 600 people unaccounted for, they said, though the number could drop as communications are restored.
Many in Black Mountain are seeking to leave, if they can find a route out of town that isn’t blocked.
They also worry about food. With no way to cook food or keep it refrigerated, they’re limited to their dwindling supply of room temperature, canned foods. Nearby stores are closed.
The parking lot of one of the area’s main grocery stores, Ingles, is a lake. Gas stations are closed. The roads to Asheville, which reportedly has a few businesses open and accepting cash, are blocked.
The closest hospital, Mission Hospital in Asheville, is 15 miles away, and the closest emergency shelter is 20 miles away.
Town in shock
On a typical September weekend, the streets of downtown Black Mountain bustle with tourists wandering through the mom-and-pop stores, maybe stopping for lunch at Ole’s Guacamoles or grabbing a coffee at the Dripolator.
Black Mountain, population 8,600, is known for its historic downtown, its shops and restaurants, arts and crafts festivals, and hiking and camping.
On Saturday, though, it wasn’t tourists jamming the downtown — it was people wandering around in search of food, water and cell service, or assessing the damage to their beloved town.
“It feels like we’re in a movie — like the ‘Twisters’ movie after a tornado,” said Alyssa Melton, 24, a part-time student. “People are walking around covered in mud without shoes. They’re in shock.”
Some people carried their shoes to keep them from getting muddy. Others didn’t have shoes. Melton says she assumes they were lucky enough to have gotten out with the clothes on their backs.
Melton and her boyfriend, Chris Boesen, spent Saturday driving around Black Mountain, taking photos of the aftermath of Hurricane Helene and posting them to Facebook whenever they found cell service.
“People need to see this,” said Melton, who is my cousin.
The parking lot of Ingles grocery store and Athen’s Pizza restaurant in Swannanoa, next to Black Mountain, are under water. (Photos courtesy of Andi Stewart)
Melton’s home had been spared by the storm. But she had a river in her backyard where there once was just grass.
“I have never been more scared in my life,” she said.
Without power and cell service, she had no idea if the rest of her family was safe. She eventually got a call out to her parents and found them and her brother safe a few miles away.
Help starts to arrive
By Sunday, some of the relief operations had begun to kick into gear. The town posted on Facebook on Sunday afternoon: “INFORMATiON WATER!!! The water has arrived at Ingles at 550 Hwy 9, Black Mountain. You MUST have your own containers!!! Please be patient and orderly.” It imposed a limit of one gallon per person. The town also set a 7 p.m. curfew.
My home church, Black Mountain Presbyterian Church in downtown, offered food and porta-potties on Sunday to the more than 800 people who made it to the parking lot.
Local nonprofits, like Asheville-based Christian ministry Hearts with Hands, and other organizations including Samaritan’s Purse and Operation Blessing have deployed groups to help distribute supplies.
Town officials said it will be months, if not years, before the area can experience some normalcy.
My family made it out fine, too. They left the Black Mountain area on Saturday and arrived in Charlotte, taking a circuitous route because of road closures.
When they got here, with reliable power and internet access, they sat down for the first time and looked through the hundreds of photos and videos circling on social media.
They had no idea the damage was as bad as it was just a mile up the road from their house. Bridges they crossed every day to get to school and work were gone. Businesses where they shopped and ate were feet-deep in flood water. The town my mother, my siblings and I all grew up in was unrecognizable.
With tears streaming down all of our faces, we realized they were some of the lucky ones.
Lindsey Banks is a staff reporter for The Charlotte Ledger. Reach her at lindsey@cltledger.com.
How to help:
Hearts with Hands, a local disaster relief organization, has a donation page to provide food, supplies and water.
United Way of North Carolina has established a fund to help residents affected by the flooding.
The American Red Cross is accepting donations to help residents in the Southeast.
Samaritan’s Purse, which is headquartered in Boone, is scheduling volunteers to help with debris cleanup.
Operation Blessing has a donation page to provide food, supplies and water.
Today’s supporting sponsor is By George Communications, an award-winning public relations firm. We love shaping stories and helping our clients gain coverage in local and national news outlets. Telling your story isn't a "nice to have." It's essential business strategy. What are you waiting for?
You might be interested in these Charlotte events
Events submitted by readers to The Ledger’s events board:
OCT 4-5: FabFest–Charlotte’s Beatles Festival, various event times. Tosco Music presents FabFest–Charlotte’s Beatles Festival, helping all ages and cultures come together around the universal popularity of the music of the Beatles. Two evening concerts at Knight Theater with a full Saturday of live music! Tickets are $15-$56.50.
OCT. 5-6 and Oct. 12-13: Parade of Homes, 11 a.m. - 5 p.m. The Home Builders Association of Greater Charlotte’s Parade of Homes returns this fall! Explore 35 model homes from top builders across Charlotte and 7 surrounding counties. Enjoy free, self-guided tours and food trucks!
OCT. 8: Coffee & Breakfast with the Charlotte Area Chamber - University City Partners Update, 8:30-10 a.m. at TopGolf Charlotte University. Join us for coffee and a hot buffet breakfast with the Chamber at Topgolf in University City! Networking and a special update from University City Partners. Free for members, $25 for nonmembers.
➡️ List your event on the Ledger events board.
In brief:
Two sheriff’s deputies among those killed: Sheriff’s deputies in Macon and Madison counties in the N.C. mountains were killed in “raging flood waters” from the storm, according to a statement from the N.C. Sheriff’s Association. (WNCN)
Water situation dire in Asheville: Nearly 100,000 Asheville residents may be without water for weeks because extensive repairs are needed on the city’s treatment facilities and pipes, and washed-away roads are preventing workers from getting to areas to help, city officials said in a statement, according to Blue Ridge Public Radio. Statewide, as of Sunday, 145 water systems were without power, suffering infrastructure damage or under boil-water alerts, N.C. Health News reported.
Mecklenburg power outages linger: Around 3,200 Duke Energy customers remained without power in Mecklenburg County as of Monday at 7:30 a.m., according to the company’s outage map. Duke said it expects power in Mecklenburg to be restored by 11:45 p.m. tonight.
Mosquitos after flooding: Flooding in North Carolina caused by Hurricane Helene could lead to an outbreak of floodwater mosquitoes, which are bigger and more aggressive than ordinary mosquitoes. After Hurricane Florence hit North Carolina in 2018, flooded communities were plagued with swarms of the large mosquitoes. (NC Health News)
Robinson treated for burn: Republican Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson said he was treated for burns to his left hand after accidentally touching a truck’s exhaust pipe during a campaign appearance on Friday in Mount Airy. The gubernatorial candidate has seen much of his staff quit in recent days after a CNN report linking him to sexual and racist language on an online message board. (WBTV)
CMS closed today: Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools are closed for a second day today because some areas of the county are still dealing with the aftermath of Friday’s severe storm. Other public school districts including Catawba, Lincoln, Iredell-Statesville and Rock Hill Schools are also closed today. (Ledger)
Panthers can’t stop the Bengals: The Carolina Panthers are now 1-3 after Sunday’s loss to the Cincinnati Bengals. The Panthers will play the Chicago Bears (2-2) Sunday in Chicago.
Need to sign up for this e-newsletter? We offer a free version, as well as paid memberships for full access to all 4 of our local newsletters:
➡️ Opt in or out of different newsletters on your “My Account” page.
➡️ Learn more about The Charlotte Ledger
The Charlotte Ledger is a locally owned media company that delivers smart and essential news through e-newsletters and on a website. We strive for fairness and accuracy and will correct all known errors. The content reflects the independent editorial judgment of The Charlotte Ledger. Any advertising, paid marketing, or sponsored content will be clearly labeled.
Like what we are doing? Feel free to forward this along and to tell a friend.
Social media: On Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn.
Sponsorship information/customer service: email support@cltledger.com.
Executive editor: Tony Mecia; Managing editor: Cristina Bolling; Staff writer: Lindsey Banks; Business manager: Brie Chrisman