On Sept. 27, in the early morning hours, Asheville, N.C., was hit by Hurricane Helene. Although North and South Carolina felt the effects of the hurricane, Asheville received around 30 inches of rain over the next few days.
The rain drains into the city because downtown Asheville is at a lower point compared to its surrounding mountains.
Fellow sports communications major and sophomore at Piedmont University, John Dieterly, is a native of Asheville. He could not make the trip home that weekend due to the storm.
Dieterly’s family got stuck in Asheville. “My family had no power, service or water for over a week,” Dieterly said. “They also had many trees fall down. Thank goodness none fell on our house.”
After more than a week, Dieterly’s family could travel to Charleston, S.C., where some of their relatives live and where they would have service, power and running water. Travel became easier than it was during the initial part of the storm, but before the roads started reopening, even simple drives were challenging.
“My dad got stuck in Johnson City. I-40 was gone in one part, so you couldn’t drive,” Dieterly recalls his dad’s journey back home. “One day, he could drive back, but it took him all day because he was trying to figure out a way to get into Asheville.”
Families like Dieterly’s are looking for help and support. They are without power, which means they have no running water.
“Anything can help,” said Dieterly when asked about how important donations of supplies are right now.
Not only was Asheville devastated by Helene, but surrounding areas were also hit hard. Julie Gray, a Rosman, N.C. resident about 45 minutes outside of Asheville, also felt the impact.
“I don’t think anybody expected this,” Gray said. “We knew it was going to be bad, but I don’t think anybody expected what happened to happen.”
Gray has been without power since Sept. 27 and runs on a generator. “This is an inconvenience for us but a nightmare for the people in Asheville. In Brevard and Rosman, we got the water, but nothing like Asheville and Hendersonville,” stated Gray.
