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Rising from ruin: survival and strength after Helene
AccuWeather
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1 year ago
Cleanup efforts are underway in the Asheville area where Hurricane Helene left devastation in its wake. Communities like Swannanoa are coming together to share stories of survival and resilience.
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00:00
It's been days since Hurricane Helene
00:02
ripped through Western North Carolina,
00:03
but the pain and destruction here
00:05
are certainly far from over.
00:07
Neighborhoods have been left in ruins,
00:09
families displaced,
00:10
and for many the horrors of those
00:12
floodwaters is still fresh.
00:14
All you could see is their chimneys.
00:16
And it happened within like 30 minutes.
00:19
It was like the water was rising and then.
00:22
And then by the time we were able
00:25
to get the kayaks and stuff,
00:27
it was already up to their their gutters
00:29
and then up to their chimneys.
00:31
Kimberly Sam says they're small,
00:33
but mighty town of Swannanoa wasn't
00:35
waiting for help to arrive.
00:36
Neighbors scrambled racing against
00:38
rising water to save people from
00:40
certain death when the first lady
00:41
he saved was like a 80 year old
00:44
lady and she was hanging on to a
00:46
light pole and he ended up having
00:48
a tire to the back of his kayak
00:50
and he brought her up.
00:51
We had to like drag her over a fence
00:54
and he was going over power lines,
00:56
fences, 17 people,
00:57
two children and even pets were
00:59
rescued, but the aftermath is brutal.
01:01
Homes destroyed, lives turned upside down.
01:03
It came in minutes and stayed for hours.
01:05
One family had just finished
01:07
renovating their home after it had
01:09
been in the family for generations.
01:11
Now faced with wreckage,
01:13
my parents bought the house from
01:15
my grandparents in the 70s and we
01:17
just bought it from my mom two years
01:20
ago and just finished renovations.
01:22
It was beautiful inside in nearby
01:25
Old Fort. Residents are still
01:27
stepping in where aid is falling short,
01:29
handing out meals, water,
01:31
baby supplies, anything to help
01:33
neighbors who lost everything.
01:34
People started donating everything
01:36
out of their refrigerators.
01:37
Because they knew that they
01:39
couldn't keep it going.
01:41
But why not feed the community
01:43
rather than, you know,
01:44
just throw it away?
01:45
The destruction is undeniable,
01:47
but so is the community spirit.
01:49
Neighbors who never spoke before
01:51
now consider each other family.
01:52
Like we've never hung out,
01:54
but now we've been hanging out.
01:57
Yeah, yeah, we hang out every day
01:59
like a family now. Yeah, we were.
02:03
They've weathered the storm,
02:04
but for many the real fight
02:06
rebuilding has just begun.
02:08
For Accuweather, I'm Allie Reed.
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