On September 26th, we battened the hatches, stored what we could, and waited for the storm to hit.
When we woke up on the 27th, we found out that our part of Western North Carolina had been spared, but our neighbors weren’t so lucky.
They call it a historic storm. The French Broad River crested at 23.67 feet, a foot and a half higher than the previous records. The French Broad normally sits around 1.7 feet. Flooding is not unheard of in our mountain area, creeks or rivers breaking their banks. But never in recorded history have we seen the record water levels or devastation from a flood that we saw then.
Entire towns have been wiped out. People are still missing. Temperatures are dropping and people are living in tents, or in houses without power.
It’s gonna be a long road to recovery.
But one thing I know about this place we call home, we are strong. Immediately people came to help. Both locally, across Appalachia, and from all over the United States. The stories of the storm are heartbreaking, but the stories of neighbors helping neighbors, and strangers helping strangers are gut wrenchingly beautiful. Our favorite school counselor lives in Transylvania County, and the amazing people in our town donated hundreds of items, clothes, tarps, blankets, coats and local farms donated thousands of pounds of meat that we were able to help hand out to her students and her community.
Many have asked if they can help, if we are open, can they still come visit. And the answer is yes. Except for the affected area, many places in Western North Carolina are open. Some detours may be necessary to avoid closed roads. But many of our areas rely on tourism and visitor dollars for their local economy. The leaves are changing, fall is officially here and this is a great time to visit and enjoy another beautiful season that these mountains have to offer.
We hope to see you soon.
By: Insert Name Published 10/12/23