Hudsonville native reeling from Helene’s ‘devastation and destruction’

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — A West Michigan native who now calls North Carolina home is one of thousands still reeling from the impact of Hurricane Helene.

Lane Essex, a University of Michigan graduate and Hudsonville native who went to school with News 8’s Blake Harms, now resides in West Asheville, North Carolina, an area that was heavily impacted by Hurricane Helene nearly two weeks ago.

“I think surreal would be the word,” Essex said. “There are so many emotions wrapped up in it. And different waves of different emotions kind of pass every day, and it feels different hour by hour.”

Her experience began riding out the storm from her residence. Several trees on her property came down as the winds blew through. Their place lost power, internet, water and cell service.

Essex and her neighbors relied on her roommate’s old-school technology to receive critical information.

“Her and I and a couple of our neighbors would gather around and each take turns cranking the radio,” she said.

Cell coverage has been slow to come back and remains spotty at best. At times, it’s been enough to get ahold of the outside world, from marking herself safe on Facebook to checking in with concerned loved ones back in Michigan.

“I received a message from a friend and she just said, like, ‘Please just tell me you’re safe,'” Essex said. “Like, ‘Tell me you’re OK.’ And I had received probably like 40 or 50 messages from, you know, a bunch of different people, many of whom are in Michigan.”

Power and internet were restored one week after the storm. Beyond being convenient, the services are financially critical for Essex: She owns an administrative assistance business for practices based in Chicago. Her virtual work was halted during the outage and has been slow to return.

Beyond her internet-based struggles, even receiving payment from clients has become an unknown.

“I also receive a lot of money from my clients via a check by post office,” Essex said. “I don’t know if (the post office) is there anymore.”

She also works at Posies for Lulu, a vintage shop in Asheville, which was heavily damaged and has been forced to close for now.

“That aspect too has been a little scary, just financially,” Essex said. “Not really knowing when I’m going to be able to, like, make and receive money.”

Besides the financial concerns, her residence still doesn’t have running water. Without a concrete timeline for its return, she has relied on friends with access to wells to wash clothes and take showers.

“The water situation is really dire,” she explained. “I know there’s a plan and that action is underway, but it’s not a matter of repairing infrastructure. It’s a matter of rebuilding and rethinking and restructuring everything.”

Despite her struggles, the immense destruction around her has helped keep things in perspective.

“I knew that even the best photo could not do justice to the devastation and destruction that has occurred,” Essex said. “And I was right. Like, just seeing it — like, you can’t possibly understand or imagine the level of destruction until you really see it with your own eyes.”

Essex shared that BeLoved Asheville is a nonprofit that has been on the front line of providing support and aid to the community. If you’d like to donate, you can find more on how to get involved here . Meanwhile, Raina Lee Scott, the owner of Posies for Lulu, is seeking help with recovery by starting a GoFundMe, which can be found here .

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