It wasn’t supposed to happen in the mountains.
They say the deadly floods in western North Carolina caused by Tropical Storm Helene are a 1,000-year flood event. That’s why the devastation looks like something we have not seen.
I live hours east of the hardest-hit areas in Buncombe and nearby counties. But like many North Carolinians, I have spent time in the N.C. mountains, our part of the Appalachians. There are few better summer escapes from my part of the state, where we are often the hottest part on the TV news weather map, thanks in part to our Sandhills soil.
How did places I've been to in western North Carolina fare?
As heartbreaking scenes seeped out of Asheville and surrounding areas, I looked for places I had been to.
There is Boone, where I attended my older brother’s graduation from Appalachian State University, where one picture showed rows of cars nearly submerged in brown waters. The campus is closed for several days. UNC-Asheville, its fellow campus in the state school system, is closed at least until Oct. 28, officials say.
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There is leafy Blowing Rock, like a painting in my mind, where I went to French camp as a high-schooler, of all things. A striking image of a house floating away emerged from there, and news accounts are that mudslides and flooded roads have cut off the town from nearby Boone, with which it shares close ties.
There is Lake Junaluska, where my wife and I have spent comfortable days in a conference at the United Methodist Church. There was significant flooding and power outages, but the dam held, officials reported.
Weaverville, where my family traveled a few years ago — where we rented a country cottage near a farm. I read that the National Guard was busily distributing water to people after the water treatment plant flooded.
Bryson City to the west of Asheville was mostly spared, except for some flooding. I remembered the time I went whitewater rafting in area, located to the west of Asheville, and stayed in my first yurt. I saw a social media post on Monday where an outfitter on the Nantahala River wrote the business had been "barely impacted" and called it "truly a miracle." The outfitters invited people in the local area to come get a hot meal and charge devices.
Meanwhile, a post from Asheville showed people gathered near a public library to use its Wi-Fi, one of the few available hot spots.
The little things become big things in times of disaster. We saw the same when our time came in 2016 with Matthew and 2018 with Florence.
Texts with Allison in Asheville: They are OK. That's the important part.
On Tuesday, I talked by text to our friend Allison Sharpe who lives in west Asheville. She was matron of honor at our wedding, and she and her husband, Jon, were safe. That’s the most important part.
They were on a generator and hoping power would be restored by this coming Friday.
We texted because talk was not available at that moment. Soon into it, Allison asked me about the status of a particular bridge in her city, if I had heard anything about it.
A little thing like that showed me how her world was still askew — as I was able to Google information about a place just miles from her house. A USA TODAY Network colleague in Asheville confirmed the bridge was fine.
But most roads there are still closed for travel. At one point all roads were closed and Asheville was an island.
“We cannot get any data — websites, etc — only texting and phone calls when out on a main road,” Allison texted.
She said Duke Energy and city and county officials have sent texts with links, but they were not able to get the links to work.
And: “Some people get the texts, others don’t. Luckily we can get local news on (a) tv antenna."
No water in Asheville, but a good spirit among her neighbors
There is no water, Allison texted. What a cruel irony of floods.
She said the water system has been weak for decades. She said the water went out in Christmas of 2022 during a cold snap and there had been talk of fixing it but “no action.”
“Now this,” she texted.
She and Jon have been told it will be three weeks before they have water again. But their gut tells them more like six.
Later, she texted: “I don't want to knock our leadership too hard because this is unprecedented. But, the water issue is going to cause society to fray a bit, I think.”
Allison said: “The devastation is heartbreakingly unbelievable.”
But she also said the “esprit de corps amongst neighbors and nearby friends has been a great comfort.”
She said the camaraderie among her neighbors reminded her of another difficult period they all went through together — when the COVID-19 pandemic kept people at home, and they would socialize around backyard fire pits.
COVID-19 and climate on my mind
Of course, the dramatic and generational impact of COVID-19 is one thing I’ve thought about. But also climate change and the environment when it comes to my native state, where I have spent most of my life.
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Just a week before the remnants of Helene did what it did to our mountains, we saw video of houses on the North Carolina coast slowly collapsing and floating away into the Atlantic — victims of erosion.
These things can impact your psyche.
Tar Heels are proud of many things about our state, and its physical beauty is one. We know that NC offers some of the best beaches on the eastern end and some of the best hiking, camping and rafting in the mountains on the west end. These two natural gifts are among many reasons we are one of the fastest-growing states.
That all seems threatened now.
But we are here.
We have esprit de corps. Multiple relief efforts are underway.
The Old North State will recover, and rebuild.
Opinion Editor Myron B. Pitts can be reached at mpitts@fayobserver.com or 910-486-3559.
This article originally appeared on The Fayetteville Observer: Opinion: The Western North Carolina floods hurt all of us. Here's where I find hope.
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