Spring Pearson bought her Del Rio house, which sits on the banks of the French Broad River, flood-ready. It was lifted atop a waist-high brick foundation following the catastrophic 1916 flood.
It wasn’t enough to hold back the unprecedented floodwaters from Hurricane Helene .
She, her husband and their two kids, ages 3 and 5, were in the house when the water began to rise into their backyard Sept. 27. It overtook the foundation and flowed into the house, then suddenly it was halfway up the first-floor windows.
“We didn't think it would get that bad, or we would have left. I thought we might get a couple inches on the ground floor, nothing major – and then it just kept rising," Pearson told Knox News.
She's thankful they're safe, and still in shock about how quickly things unfolded.
“On Friday morning, we still kind of were like joking about it. I made French toast. There's still the dishes from making French toast," Pearson said of her destroyed kitchen. "And then the water just kept rising and rising.
"We lost power at about 3:30 Friday afternoon. The water came inside around four o'clock, and then it kept rising until about 7:30," she said.
The family fled upstairs with their dog Coco and couldn't leave the house until the next day, when Pearson paddled a boat to the railroad tracks and walked to Bridgeport to get a better picture of the apocalyptical scene. She returned in a friend's car to get her family out of Del Rio.
Now that the floodwaters have receded, their huge house has a thick layer of mud on the hardwood floors. Their furniture is soaked, the breaker is out and parts of the structure are seriously damaged. Her most pressing need is a generator and fans to get the moisture out.
Flood insurance will help them repair the 136-year-old house. Pearson and her husband, Theo Crouse-Mann, now plan to head to Asheville, North Carolina, where they own the music venue Sly Grog Lounge. The venue, they heard, wasn't badly damaged. Some of their staffers are sheltering in the venue, and it's reopened taking cash only.
They'll be back to Del Rio once schools reopen ‒ even though that could be a while. They're committed to rebuilding their community.
“We love this house, and we love this community, and we don't want to go anywhere," Pearson said.
Cocke County residents start to rebuild in Newport
West of Del Rio, Newport residents are salvaging what they can from homes and churches.
Grace Baptist Church along the Pigeon River was left in ruin. Mud cakes the floor, windows are shattered and scores of Bibles are destroyed by the flood.
Pastor Vince Keeton lives with his wife, Heather, in the house next to the church, and the assistant pastor lives on the other side of the building. All three properties were ruined as the river overflowed its banks and rose into their homes.
“By the time we pulled out to go up the hill back here behind the church, I was pushing water with my Jeep … and water was coming in the floorboard," Keeton said.
They were able to rescue some of the church vehicles and the shuttle bus, but not much else.
Keeton said the flood rose behind the church and into the Edwina neighborhood. Despite having no running water, Keeton and members of his church have come together to clear out the building and bring over bottled water and food.
“I told our church, I said, ‘Buildings can be rebuilt, stuff can be bought, but lives can't be replaced, and God's helping us,'" Keeton told Knox News.
One church member is District Attorney Jimmy Dunn. He wasn’t in Newport when the flood hit, but returned on Sept. 29 to help in any way he could, including shoveling mud. His home wasn't damaged.
“I had to go home and get my shovel and my wheelbarrow, and I came down yesterday just for a little while," Dunn said.
Church member Joy Stokely was there, searching for her late husband’s Bible that she stored at the church.
She was working at Big Boys Country Kitchen when the water began to rise, but she wasn’t worried about herself. Her house is fine.
“A lot of my friends came to work and then couldn't go back home. I started trying to get in touch with my pastor, because the first thing I heard was that Edwina here, the church, was underwater, and it just really upset me," Stokely said. "It just tore my heart out, because I loved this place and this is my family here."
She was relieved to hear that everyone was safe, including her niece and nephew in the Edwina neighborhood.
Community joins together to rebuild Cocke County
Cocke County High School girls basketball coach Boddie Bible has had some help tearing up his flood-ravaged house. The baseball team players and the middle school football coach Pedro Gudger are there to pick up the pieces, literally and figuratively.
"I've been blessed with a community of help. I mean, I've had 10 to 15 people here every day helping, so I'm very grateful for that," Bible said.
Bible fled with his son up the hill to safety. He said his house wasn't in the flood zone, so he didn't have flood insurance.
He's proud of Newport.
"This community is strong. They've been through a lot," Bible told Knox News. "If you go downtown, there's people working like crazy just to help people they don't even know."
Keenan Thomas is a higher education reporter. Email keenan.thomas@knoxnews.com . X, formerly known as Twitter @specialk2real .
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This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Destroyed homes, soaked Bibles, stories of survival: Cocke County rebuilds amid Helene floods
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