What a wild, crazy and heartbreaking few days it’s been in North Carolina. Hurricane Helene brought high winds, heavy rains and record historic floods to our state. While we are mostly okay in Charlotte with the exception of downed trees and multi-day power outages, our neighbors to the west did not fare well at all. It’s horrific.

*Note, I do not own the images in this post. 

HURRICANE HELENE DEVASTATION IN WESTERN NORTH CAROLINA 

The devastation in western North Carolina is beyond belief. It’s being described as a “post-apocalyptic” scene in many areas in and around Asheville. Residents are without power or cellular service, roads are impassable and in some cases completely washed away, water and food are scarce.

Just to give you a personal, firsthand account, here is what my friend Kat posted on Facebook today:

“We are safe and made it to CLT yesterday to be w/ my family.  Our home weathered the storm w/ no damage, but we lost three huge trees in our backyard that will need to be cleaned up eventually.  We are so lucky.  So many others cannot say the same.  We were able to drive up to Barnardsville to check on friends on Saturday and the devastation in the outlying areas is beyond comprehension.  The news is highlighting Asheville but please know that for the most part, the city of Asheville will be just fine once water is restored.  Downtown has been powered for days and somehow some still/already have water (not us).  The rural areas have not been heard from or reached by media and they are the worst hit.  Many are trapped due to entire roads being washed away.  Barnardsville and Reems Creek are destroyed, I witnessed this first hand.  I’m hearing the same about Swannanoa.  Please think of these small communities as you send your well wishes.”

The entire village of Chimney Rock was washed away.

I’ve been buying from Bluebird Farm at the Charlotte Regional Farmers Market for over 10 years. William and Marie experienced a catastrophic losses of their crops.

“95% of our vegetables are gone. The farm is our income as William and I are full time farmers without an off farm income. Winter is coming and it is too late to plant more crops and the soil needs a waiting period after contaminated floodwater. Our animals are safe. A little shell shocked but safe. One foot in front of the other.”

You can directly support them here.

Lake Lure

I want to highlight what’s happening on my blog to make sure the utter devastation that is happening in western North Carolina is understood on a national level. This is not a “get everything cleaned up and back to normal” kind of scenario. It is going to take months and years for many of these communities to rebuild.

As many of my long-time readers know, WNC holds a special place in my heart. I have spent so much time in these mountains and they’ve brought me great fun and great healing. I know many others can say the same. It’s been a beautiful thing to see residents of our state band together so support our western neighbors in ways ranging from collecting supplies to housing displaced families to financial support. People are going in on UTVs, on horseback and on foot to help those in need. Water, food and supplies are being air dropped to communities in need that are inaccessible by road.

HOW TO HELP WESTERN NORTH CAROLINA

If you feel called to offer support, here are some organizations that are doing meaningful, feet on the ground work in WNC.

• Operation Airdrop is focusing operations on NC by delivering essential supplies and food.
• Haywood Christian Ministry  is WNC’s largest food pantry and is distributing food on the ground. They need donations to help with disaster response.
• Donate financially to Asheville Humane Society or Brother Wolf Animal Rescue.
• Diaper Bank: Babies Need Bottoms – Asheville – they are in need of donations of wipes, diapers and rash cream. They are on the ground already and distribute to families and partner charities. You can donate online or use the non-profit’s Amazon Wish List here.
• Samaritan’s Purse – this organization is headquartered in Boone, NC (also deeply impacted by Helene) and is offering support in Watauga and Buncombe counties. You can support monetarily or volunteer your time.
• Mercy Chefs– this organization is deploying to Western North Carolina to serve prepared meals to volunteers on the ground, first responders, and community members stranded by the disaster.

You can find more resources here. Thank you for reading this post.

Big love and prayers out to all,
Jen