‘It’s a warzone’: Bat Cave residents assess damage from Helene

HENDERSON COUNTY ( QUEEN CITY HOMETOWN ) — “Grateful. Angry. Upset. A little bit of everything. Anxiety.”

Picking just one emotion is as complicated as finding the way up the mountain and back home for Lisa Corbett. It’s the first time they’ve been back to Bat Cave, North Carolina since Hurricane Helen hit.

“This was all water,” pointed out Lisa. Their peaceful river rose and raged, taking so much with it.

“Devastation,” said Lisa. That’s another feeling.

Lisa and her family had to be airlifted out of Bat Cave. She said that was the scariest part.

“That mobile home has a tree through the room, and there’s a tree on the truck,” said Lisa.

She had to hike up the mountain to get to her home. Her path was covered in debris, down trees, and items from her neighbor’s homes. The path was unrecognizable at times.

“I just found my grandson’s toy,” said Lisa, bending down to pick up a mud-covered ambulance toy. “He said, he was going to come up here and dig to try to find all his toy treasures.”

Her neighbor’s home is buried- another is barely propped up. “It’s a warzone through here. It doesn’t look the same,” said Lisa.

So much of what used to be is no longer. “This used to be a stone patio, we had an outdoor kitchen,” said Lisa, standing in front of piles of siding, trees, and debris.

While making the journey up, the fuzzy memories of that day became a little clearer. When something hit their home, Lisa and her husband had to run out. They hid under a large tree and waited out the storm.

“Then we heard the loud noise and I could tell something had come in through the house, and we had to evacuate because the whole wall was caving in in the kitchen,” said Lisa.

Her front porch looks like nothing happened, but all around her yard are scattered and broken pieces of her life. Inside her home, mud is almost to the ceiling.

“I can’t believe these dishes are still on the wall over here,” said Lisa.

When they were rescued, they left everything behind. “This was our dream retirement home. We loved being here. We don’t really want to be anywhere else,” said Lisa.

For each person, it looks different- sounds different- but there’s no one way to feel loss.

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