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This Old House Season 47 Episode 1
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00:00In September of 2024, Hurricane Helene brought devastating rain and winds to western North Carolina.
00:07When the first tree hit, it shook the whole house.
00:11No one was prepared for what was about to happen.
00:14Is that a propane tank?
00:15Yeah, dude.
00:16That's scary.
00:17We were at the point that we were hanging onto the gutters.
00:20We heard our neighbors screaming for their lives.
00:23Houses on my street washed away, like houseboats.
00:27I realized that I made a mistake.
00:34And I thought I'd put us all at risk.
00:36I wish I'd gotten us out of it.
00:50Hi there, I'm Kevin O'Connor, and welcome back to This Old House and to Season 47,
00:55where we start in western North Carolina.
00:58Last fall, Hurricane Helene tore through these mountains.
01:02And communities like Asheville, Swannanoa, and many others experienced catastrophic winds and extreme flooding.
01:10So much so that some homes literally washed away.
01:13Over the next 11 episodes, we'll work with some families from these resilient towns
01:18as they rebuild their communities and their homes, making them stronger than ever.
01:23Welcome to This Old House, a Carolina Comeback.
01:27September 24, 2024.
01:31A hot, muggy day in Asheville, North Carolina.
01:35A band of thunderstorms worked their way through the mountains and valleys of western Carolina.
01:39What most people didn't know is that the weather they were experiencing
01:43was connected to a much larger force over 1,000 miles away.
01:48By 11 a.m. that morning, a tropical cyclone, the ninth of the season, was off the Yucatan Peninsula.
01:55The National Hurricane Center saw a jump in wind speed and gave the storm a name.
02:00Helene.
02:01Asheville is known to get a lot of rain.
02:04We really didn't think much of it.
02:06As the storm plowed northward across the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico,
02:11the wind speed jumped.
02:13By early morning, it was a full-blown hurricane.
02:17Still hundreds of miles away, the governor of North Carolina declared a state of emergency.
02:23We knew the storm was coming our way.
02:25We were worried and a little bit scared, but, you know, weren't expecting too much damage.
02:30Back in the small town of Swannanoa, Jim and Allie lived in a quiet neighborhood of former factory housing built in the 1920s.
02:39Kind of prepped, got the house ready to stay at home and hunker down for a couple days.
02:45Paula lived several miles downstream from Allie and Jim.
02:49She lived close to the river, but felt no danger.
02:52I never really considered leaving.
02:55In the past, the storms hadn't really had flooding get that close to my home.
03:02A few miles up the road in North Asheville, Matt and Melinda had no worries about flooding.
03:07They and their two children lived on a mountain.
03:11My wife, who's always already very paranoid about the giant trees in our neighborhood, made us all sleep in the basement.
03:18So we set up the lights, and we had a movie, and our dog, Rosie, downstairs, and we were just trying to make it fun for the kids.
03:26All right, there's the heavy rain band.
03:28Thursday night was a rain event.
03:30By sunup, hopes were on the rise.
03:33I thought we had made it, and then the wind picked up like crazy.
03:37I would say the first tree probably fell on the house around 6.30 or 7.
03:42It made the whole house shake, and I decided to go check out upstairs and see what the damage was.
03:52So I went to my daughter's room, and this is where I saw a new decorative branch.
04:01So I was like, obviously, something terrible has happened.
04:04So I came back this way, and my child's playroom was up here, and that's when I opened this door, and pretty much everything's gone.
04:18Like, it's all open to the outside.
04:20How did the kids react to the whirling wind and then trees landing on the house?
04:25The kids were terrified.
04:26We were all pretty terrified.
04:28We had about six to seven trees hit the house, one which took the whole roof off of the right side of our home.
04:40So all the light fixtures, the electrical plugs and everything were just, water was shooting out everywhere.
04:48I started walking down the stairs, and that's when the other tree hit and took out this part of the house.
04:56This is when I realized, like, the house was going to be gone.
04:59So this is just a series of events, tree after tree after tree, and then was it after this tree that you guys decided to, we need to get out of here?
05:09We were trapped at this point.
05:12So we huddled in the basement, and I looked out the window, and I saw a large tree go cartwheeling by into my neighbor's house.
05:24And at that point, I realized that I made a mistake.
05:30And I thought I'd put us all at risk.
05:32What do you wish you had done?
05:37I wish I'd gotten us out of there.
05:39That realization came to you at that moment?
05:42Yeah.
05:44And, you know, I didn't know that we were going to make it out of there.
05:49And that was a rude awakening.
05:55In Swannanoa, the flooding happened with shocking speed, turning familiar streets into rushing torrents in a matter of minutes.
06:05It looks like the bridge is still holding, but honestly, I can't tell.
06:09Jim and Allie realized that they, too, were trapped.
06:12Car stalled out in front of our driveway, so we couldn't even exit.
06:17And I was like, well, we're stuck.
06:20And we went back into the house, and then it started coming up through the floorboards and the floor vents.
06:27And at that point, I was like, if worse comes to worse, I'm going to get on the roof.
06:33And the only way that I know how to do that is keeping a door open.
06:38Furniture started floating and falling over.
06:41I told Allie, we have to get out and onto the front porch.
06:45How are you with this plan at that point?
06:47I mean, I just trusted him that he knew what to do.
06:50So I just got off the kitchen counter, and we noticed the foam blocks were in the front bedroom.
06:57And they were floating, and we grabbed them, and we went out the front door.
07:01And our dog, Piper, was in a backpack on my back, strapped onto me.
07:06And the water was about two feet when we exited.
07:09You, Jim, decided to leave the front door open, although you still had the fuss with the storm screen door.
07:16Yeah, I had to push that open with all my body weight.
07:20And when I got to the point where I knew that I kind of had the tread water and the dog was in the backpack,
07:25at that point, I put her onto one of those floating blocks that we had.
07:30Right.
07:31And within 15 minutes, we were holding onto the gutters.
07:34I mean, are you floating up to the gutters?
07:36Are you walking on the railing?
07:37We held onto the banisters and kind of hold onto the poles until we were able to float to hold onto the gutters
07:46and traverse around the house to get to the back of it.
07:50Allie, when you're here, are you sort of just looking at the roof?
07:53Or as you look out, are you looking around?
07:56No.
07:57On our street, it was a river.
07:59So we saw cars going by.
08:01We saw propane tanks.
08:03Is that a propane tank?
08:04Yeah, dude.
08:05That's scary.
08:07At the point that we were hanging onto the gutters, we heard our neighbors screaming for their lives.
08:12Just for help, to get out, and neighbors getting caught in attics.
08:19We are punching our way out of the roof at this point in case the flood continues.
08:29So this idea of traversing, is that basically just hand over hand as you work your way around?
08:36Yep.
08:36And pulling the dog on the floaty mat.
08:40Yep.
08:40You make your way around, sort of counterclockwise, you end up where?
08:45At the back corner of the house.
08:47And at that point, a shed came at us, separated us.
08:53I had a smurge underwater.
08:56But Allie was on this side of the house at that point.
08:59And then got her up onto that lower roof line.
09:04Am I looking at the mats?
09:05Yeah.
09:06Those are them?
09:06Those are the foam blocks.
09:08They're still up on the roof.
09:09Yeah.
09:09They have been there since the day of.
09:12Jim is the biggest hero.
09:14How so?
09:15He did everything for me that day.
09:20Dang it.
09:21I just love him so much.
09:26That's a good thing.
09:27I know.
09:29You tell him that?
09:31All the time.
09:32And I always say, thanks for opening the door.
09:36Because he, I don't know how he knew that.
09:39But he did.
09:42And he kept us safe.
09:46Oh, good for him.
09:49I'm sure you do plenty for him as well.
09:52Yeah, I do.
09:53In East Asheville, Paula was watching the event unfold on higher ground, along with her neighbors.
10:04The water rose in about 20 minutes from below that deck to beneath the windows.
10:14But when the water hit the bottom of the window, we were like, okay, we might not be high enough here.
10:21That's right.
10:22So we had to climb up through the woods.
10:23So when you decided to go to high ground, what was your route?
10:26Well, I had a dog under my arm.
10:28Yeah.
10:28And a suitcase.
10:29And a suitcase, yeah.
10:29And a suitcase.
10:30And we pretty much climbed up right through this wall right here.
10:34Yikes.
10:35My friend that was with me hoisted my suitcase and all of their crap and a crock pot with meatloaf in it.
10:40Really?
10:41And we went up the hill.
10:45We turned around to just watch the water.
10:49And that's when we saw the first house float by.
10:54And the water was so strong that it actually twirled the house.
11:00And it floated down the river and it hit some trees.
11:06Oh!
11:08Those trees.
11:10The sound is what got me the most.
11:14Like if you crumple up a water bottle.
11:16Yeah.
11:16Like that crunch, crunch.
11:17Crunch noise.
11:18Yeah.
11:18That's the sound and that sound kind of triggers me.
11:25Eleven houses on my street washed away.
11:27Like houseboats, they just washed away down the river.
11:38By now, local 911 operators were so overwhelmed, calls were being diverted to dispatchers hundreds of miles away.
11:47Back in Swannanoa, Jim and Allie made it to a neighbor's roof and waited for help.
11:52Eventually, their salvation came from an unexpected source.
11:56A neighbor with a kayak who was making rescue runs throughout the flooded neighborhood.
12:02I panicked and I grabbed my kayak and skirt and then my life jacket.
12:06And then we ended up down at the water and my jaw just like dropped.
12:09I just never dreamed the water would get up to the gutters of the houses.
12:14It was just brown lake.
12:17You could see the rooftops.
12:19I heard people screaming.
12:20And then all of a sudden, here he comes.
12:24And he just said, I'm here to get you.
12:27So he took us one by one.
12:28He took the dog first.
12:30And then he took me.
12:32I held on to the back of his kayak, went in the water again.
12:35And he just said, kick for your life.
12:38So then he just took us to higher ground.
12:42And that's when we saw Piper, our dog.
12:45And then we both just started crying.
12:47Heroes were everywhere that day, including in North Asheville.
12:51My neighbor Tony was banging on the windows and we opened the garage.
12:57And he was like, we need to get, everybody needs to get out of here.
13:00My neighbor is a good friend and to put himself at risk like that, it was amazing.
13:09So, yeah, we grabbed our family and we took off running with him.
13:15We were thankful that he was able to, you know, check on us and direct us to where a safe area was
13:22because we weren't aware of what our next step would be at that point until we heard his voice.
13:29We were in shock.
13:30You know, we didn't, I called a friend of mine because the phones went down intermittently
13:36and we made it to a fire station.
13:39And I called a friend of mine that lived out of town and...
13:43I was like, call, call my mom.
13:52And, you know, just tell her we're okay.
13:56Not everyone was able to make it to safety.
13:59We had one neighbor that refused to leave.
14:02The next we heard he had gotten onto his roof with his dog and somebody had seen him float by.
14:09I don't know, they found his body two days later, so.
14:11Paula is one of the lucky ones.
14:15Not only did she survive, her house is one of the only ones still standing in her neighborhood.
14:21So why do you think this house survived?
14:23My house is the newest house in probably the whole development.
14:27It was built in 2001.
14:29It was built by an architect who was dabbling with whether or not manufactured homes could be kind of affordable housing.
14:35Sure, yeah.
14:36So four parts of it are manufactured and then there's stick built around it.
14:40All built, all bolted together?
14:42Bolted together and bolted to the foundation.
14:44Really?
14:44And I'm pretty sure that's why it didn't move.
14:48This was absolutely a geological event.
14:50The Army Corps of Engineers says the river moved nine feet away from me, so therefore I'm no longer in a flood plain.
14:57The scale and destruction was overwhelming.
15:01As the immediate shock began to wear off, families faced an impossible question.
15:07Should they rebuild?
15:08I have to rebuild.
15:10I have to hope the real estate rebounds.
15:13I absolutely did consider not going back.
15:15You know, as much as I love my neighbors and what they did for us, going back there is definitely a choice.
15:23And it's a hard choice.
15:25I always felt like that we would rebuild.
15:28Even with the ceiling open when I'm in there, I just want to be home in my house.
15:34We're three months post-storm right now.
15:38And we're trying to, you know, get the ball rolling on a lot of that stuff.
15:45As our North Asheville and East Asheville homeowners make plans with their builders in Swannanoa,
15:52Jim and Allie made their decision quickly and are already underway.
15:57I really didn't have much of another option.
16:00There was no way to get out of my mortgage.
16:04You know, the financing that I had on the HVAC system that we just installed,
16:10we'd have to figure out something else.
16:12There's no way that I could afford another mortgage or rent at the same time.
16:19We're rebuilding our house.
16:21Why?
16:21Because we love it and we want to go back.
16:25I mean, I want Swannanoa to come back bigger and better than ever.
16:31And so the cleanup and demolition has started.
16:33Your minds have shifted to the rebuilds?
16:35Yep.
16:35Yep, it's started already.
16:37Confident that you can get it done and it's the right decision?
16:40Yes, very much so.
16:42Good.
16:42Well, we'll follow along.
16:43We'll help you out with that.
16:46Their neighbors, Kat and Jeremy, are signing on with the same builder as Allie and Jim.
16:51That's actually another factor as to why we decided to stay,
16:57that people are going to rebuild maybe even more than before.
17:01I think quite a bit of people are going to be moving back.
17:06I think the homeowners have really come together and, you know,
17:10we have frequent meetings and talk about kind of different issues.
17:15And it's been really a terrible and nice way to get to know our neighbors.
17:21I think we know them better than we ever have before, for sure.
17:25And so is their neighbor, Maya, whose family has been on this street for generations.
17:31I remember my grandfather, there was a couch always up against this wall.
17:35And he took so many naps here.
17:38Like, this was his napping area.
17:39For her, rebuilding meant honoring the past while creating something new.
17:44A new safe place.
17:46And I think I'm going to incorporate, you know, my grandparents as much as possible.
17:52And I think, yeah, it will be a safe place again.
18:04Hey, Tommy.
18:05Hey, Kevin. How are you?
18:06All right.
18:06So interesting story with this whole little village.
18:08I mean, worker housing, so modest, all for rent.
18:11But everyone I've talked to who lives here, they're like,
18:13we can't believe how well our homes are built.
18:15And they can't believe they're still here after the flood.
18:17Yeah, I'm surprised that they're all here, too.
18:20I mean, the raging water coming down here, I mean, lots of times it takes these houses
18:24and it pushes them off of the foundation.
18:26Yeah.
18:27And I thought of, like, why didn't they all get pushed off the foundation?
18:30The first thing I noticed was this concrete slab.
18:32All of these houses have porches with a poured concrete foundation, which was rare back in the 20s.
18:38Probably done, you know, all by hand.
18:40But it's a lot of weight that's fastened to the foundation and to the structure.
18:45So any water coming down, you just pushed away.
18:48Right.
18:48So this is a slab here.
18:50We've got a little crawl space, a little foundation all the way around.
18:53Is it tied to that little foundation?
18:55It's setting on it.
18:56They didn't really do ties.
18:58They basically set it on the foundation and mortared it into place.
19:01Right.
19:01So that seal broke over time.
19:03But it also has a novelty siding, which is a six-inch siding that's shiplap.
19:07But if you look at right here, look at the siding that's all nailed.
19:11And it's all nailed on every board.
19:13So the nails are, like, six inches apart.
19:15And they're three-quarters of an inch thick.
19:17All right.
19:17And these are cut nails.
19:19Wow.
19:19So the water pushing against the foundation can't break the wall, so it falls over.
19:25And it's really a well-built wall.
19:29So in this case, the siding, thick, nailed a lot.
19:32It's also the sheathing, right?
19:33This is siding right there.
19:35Yeah.
19:35It's on it.
19:35Yeah.
19:36And the shiplap, there's a shiplap right here.
19:39So you have the scoop piece that comes up, and the shiplap, or the half-lap right here,
19:43goes on top, keeping the rain from running into the building.
19:47But I think they built the house really well.
19:49I mean, this is two-by-four construction, but look, they've got diagonal bracing in all
19:54the corners.
19:55So you've got a diagonal brace that runs to a post down to the sill.
19:59And on this other side, you've got another diagonal brace that runs from this corner down
20:05to the sill, and they both are in a V direction like this.
20:08What that does is it basically keeps the wall movement and lessens it on a windy day.
20:15In this case, it's basically you've got the water pushing against it, along with the thick
20:19siding and all the nails.
20:20So you've got a diagonal brace in this corner that goes this way, one that way, one here,
20:25down here, the other one the other way.
20:27All of that is to help the movement of the building and keep it tighter longer.
20:31But what held it in place, I noticed all of these houses have chimneys that go up through
20:36here.
20:36Well, there was a big chimney that went up through here, and there was a big fireplace on
20:41this side.
20:43The chimney got narrower, but it was still weight.
20:45And another big fireplace on that side, same thing on that side of the house.
20:49Four fireplaces in this house is kind of remarkable.
20:52It is.
20:52And think of the weight of the brick.
20:54So you probably go like 3,000 pounds in each chimney right here, pushing down into the
20:59ground.
21:00So the water going against it, along with the slab, the diagonal bracing, it's not going
21:05to get pushed off of the foundation.
21:07So worker housing, built in the 1920s, but despite that, according to you, well built?
21:12I think it's very well built.
21:14And homeowners, pretty much everyone we would talk to, wants to come back and rebuild.
21:18You don't think that decision's crazy?
21:20I don't think it's crazy at all.
21:21I love houses like this.
21:23This is great for a one-floor living.
21:25Yeah.
21:26Three bedrooms.
21:27It's great.
21:27All three of these former mill houses are being renovated by one builder.
21:33I'm sure Jim and Ali are going to be pleased here, getting your stamp of approval on the
21:37houses.
21:37I hope.
21:37Hey, Chris, Nick, good to see you guys.
21:40Yeah, good to see you.
21:40Good to see you.
21:40So we've spoken to everyone, and they all want to come back and rebuild.
21:44And I hear you guys have signed on for the task to help us with a few houses.
21:47Yeah, it's going to be a wild ride.
21:48But I ran into Jim and Ali early, and we're all kind of from and around the area, so we just
21:54kind of knew this is where we were going to start rebuilding.
21:56This is the place.
21:58Yep, it is.
21:58Yeah, that's right.
21:58This is our hometown.
21:59This is where we want to be.
22:01Good.
22:01Well, we're glad you're on board.
22:02And Richard, Jen, you guys saw some stuff, too.
22:05Yeah, you know, I don't think you realize the devastation until you see it up close.
22:09It's just amazing.
22:10Yeah.
22:10This whole place is just crazy.
22:12I know.
22:13And everybody is coming together to help each other, so it's an incredible community
22:16here, and I'm looking forward to working on it with you guys.
22:19Yeah, and everybody, including your folks, want to rebuild as well.
22:22Absolutely.
22:22So we'll be working in all those locations, which means next time, work begins.
22:27So on behalf of all of us, I'm Kevin O'Connor signing off for This Old House here in Western
22:32North Carolina.
22:33Welcome aboard, fellas.
22:34Thanks a lot.
22:35We're going to need your help.
22:35Next time on This Old House, we're back in Western North Carolina, where it's all about
22:45rebuilding after Hurricane Helene.
22:48And here in Swannanoa, it's all about prepping this bathroom wall for tile.
22:53And in East Asheville, the plumbers and electricians are here.
22:56We're turning the corner.
22:57It's a pretty cool unit.
22:59And I'm in North Asheville helping the builder uncover how much damage there is in this house.
23:03If you like Demo, this is the place to be.
23:08That's next time.
23:33I'm Kevin O'Connor, and I'm Kevin O'Connor, and I'm Kevin O'Connor, and I'm Kevin O'Connor, and I'm Kevin O'Connor, and I'm Kevin O'Connor, and I'm Kevin O'Connor, and I'm Kevin O'Connor, and I'm Kevin O'Connor, and I'm Kevin O'Connor, and I'm Kevin O'Connor, and I'm Kevin O'Connor, and I'm Kevin O'Connor, and I'm Kevin O'Connor, and I'm Kevin O'Connor, and I'm Kevin O'Connor, and I'm Kevin O'Connor, and I'm Kevin O'Connor, and I'm Kevin O'Connor, and I'm Kevin O'Connor.
23:40You
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