Woman who lost home to Helene wants to move to Triad

HIGH POINT, N.C. (WGHP) –An Asheville woman evacuated to the Triad after Helene flooded her and her husband’s home.

The morning after Helene rolled through Asheville, Cynthia Hamilton, who has lived there for more than 20 years, stepped outside of her home to what she describes as a war zone.

“We were looking up and down the street. There were trees up and down the road. I’ve just never seen anything like it,” Hamilton said.

After staying in Asheville without power or running water for days, Hamilton and her husband decided to leave everything behind.

“It really felt like you were going through a movie. I didn’t really pay attention to the clothes I was packing. My husband only brought one sweatshirt. We only brought minimal stuff because we didn’t know what were packing for,” Hamilton said.

The couple and their dogs made their way to High Point where they’ve been temporarily living in an Airbnb for about two weeks.

It is a blessing Hamilton says she’s not taking for granted.

“There’s a lot people that have lost lives … lost animals. People that have watched their houses float down the river,” Hamilton said.

According to a spokesperson for the North Carolina Realtors Association, less than 1% of Buncombe County residents had flood insurance when Helene flooded their properties.

Hamilton was one of them. Instead of paying thousands of dollars to fix her home, she’s currently house hunting in the Triad to become a permanent resident.

“I really like High Point. I like Winston-Salem, too. The place that we’re renting, we need to leave Thursday because they have other renters coming in. We’ve really enjoyed it here,” Hamilton said.

Hamilton says she learned the water in her Asheville home is dripping again, but it’s still not safe to drink without boiling it.

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