Helping in the Aftermath of Hurricane Helene
Photos and Videos
The following photos and videos were taken by volunteers in the relief effort
The video below was taken in the northern part of Swannanoa. As you can see, we are almost at the top of the mountain. If you look closely, you can see a grown man standing around the 14 second mark. This landscape was originally about 100'x600'x2'of soil depth and tree cover. After 37 Inches of rainfall, the granite mountain let loose its cover and wiped out multiple homes below with fatalities. The destruction is everywhere and not limited to the flood plain of the river valley.

The humble man below is one to be watched. I asked him for his story to share: Kris felt his mother's house moving off its foundation under the pressure of rising flood waters in Swannanoa. He climbed out a back window into the raging currents with his dog under his arm and his girlfriend holding his belt. He fought to reach the tree behind him in the photo and was thrust upward by a heaving current from a truck wedged at the tree base. After grabbing a vine for dear life, he was able to get a leg over a log across the vee of the split trunk. Once his leg was up, his head went under water, vine in one hand and dog in the other. He was somehow able to pull himself up and bring his girlfriend and dog up. They climbed to the small dead jutting limb pointed out by the arrow. The couple stood on that limb and
held onto the trunk for six hours until swift water rescue came to their aid.
Kris wasn't flexing or smiling until I asked him to. He is an unsung hero among many. God is clearly not done with him yet!!

Below you will see a food pantry that used to serve Ashville. The front entrance is packed with flood debris, the rear roll door is exploded open from the pressure of the floodwater. The last two pics were taken at the end of the same street and indicate the height of the floodwaters by the debris in the tree and the intense forces involved to crumple a steel dumpster.
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William works to free a trailer from fallen trees sent down hill by the slide pictured to the right. The trailer is totaled and has to be removed for road crews to come and shore up the the road to provide safe access for all the displaced residents.


The picture with the long drive gives some insight into the scale of this upper mountainside landslide. The concrete drive leads up to the tree with a ladder leaning on it. Behind that tree is the top half of someone's former home in a crumpled pile. The other half is on the left side of the driveway. It's an eerie quiet as the windchimes play a lonely tune on the abandoned porch next to the car pushed off its driveway. The pictures don't do the scene justice. It's absolutely overwhelming to witness.


