It's been 100 days since this event. I live in Black Mountain, NC. We were right in the middle of it. I'd like to tell my story about what we have gone through, and what we have seen.

We were supposed to go to Virginia International Raceway for an event that Friday. We woke up to insane rain and wind, but our home is on a knoll so we didn't see much standing water or flooding.

As any other morning we were talking with our racectrack friends and talking about when we were going to load up to head to Virginia. It was maybe 7 or 8am, the sun was trying to peek through the clouds but only dimly lit the area.

We could begin to see how much wind there actually was. The trees, I've never seen them move like that. They bent almost down to the Earth at times. The rain was coming in sideways, literally hitting the windows of our home head on.

The power went out, which was not surprising. I assumed a tree fell somewhere. We told our friends we would wait out the storm and leave once the power was restored. Man were we off the mark on what was going on outside our view.

The power came back on for a moment, but was off again rather quickly. We were still messaging and texting everyone though, as they were a few hours from us and also in all this rain and wind.

Then we lost water, that was a plot twist I wasn't expecting as our water source doesn't rely on electricity to work. I assumed something happened and maybe the town shut the water off as a precaution. During that time I saw that our Fire Department was evacuating people that lived next to the Swannanoa River, a river that originates on the other side of Black Mountain.

We were still talking with our friends, and were discussing coming down to the track the following day due to this changes in circumstance. Mind you, we still had no idea what was actually about to happen.

We lost phones maybe 30 minutes after the water went out. Now that's wild, we had nothing. Through all of my weapons training, lockerroom talk, and reading on how to be prepared for a disaster I was totally blindsided by this. It wasn't a terrorist attack, solar flare, emp, nope.....just wind and rain.

A huge gust of wind ripped over our house and took a couple trees down, one large branch hit our fence. It was only feet away from my truck, but no damage. We were so lucky. I went to our garage to get a better look at the truck and noticed water coming in from an interior wall of brick. Never seen that before, but it wasn't much so I wasn't too deeply concerned.

We waited out the rest of the storm in the house with candles and lights lit.

Around 11:30 the rain stopped. We ventured outside as did most of our neighbors. Trees had blocked our road from both sides, so we cut our way out and one of my neighbors walked down to their community garden to assess damage there. That garden was bordering Interstate 40. She soon returned and told us that the river was flowing over the highway. This was unbelievable.

I fired up my Tacoma to see this for myself. I went in one direction, no bridge and 15 feet more river that is supposed to be there. We turned around and drove the other way and there was 2 feet of water coming over our road from a trickle of water that is usually only a couple inches deep. It was then that I noticed how quiet it was. Nothing but the sound of water.

We went home and geared up. I needed to know the extent of this, how widespread was this damage? By the time we got back to the underwater road there were other trucks navigating it. We following in a single-file line and came out of that water over by exit 64 on I40. Everything was off, no lights, nothing. I found a friend at our Black Mountain grocery store and was informed of a mud slide on I40 that was blocking all 4 lanes as well as a washout on I40 in the Tennessee Cut in the other direction.

We were stuck in a fishbowl. No power, no water, no cellphones. We walked up to Blue Ridge YMCA to see what was going on up there. I used to work there and knew many of the staff that were still there. We were met with people being evacuated from buildings that had been shifted off their foundations. I talked with a friend there that was upset he didn't have any cigarettes. He had gone to the store early that morning and bought one pack. He would be out soon and didn't know when he could get more. This will play a part in my story later on.

We went home, my wife and kids quite hysterical, and I talked with my Dad about a gameplan.

We decided to lay low for a few days and see if there were any improvements. To do that we needed a few things. I needed to fire up the generator, and we needed water. The rest could wait. It was getting late though, so I decided we wouldn't leave the house that day any more due to the lack of communication, police, medical assistance, and daylight.

Day 2:

I woke up to sunlight and quiet. Nothing was happening. We brewed some coffee and I went outside to check on the generator. we had decided to run it twice a day for a few hours to conserve fuel. When I went into the garage to fire it up I smelled fuel. Upon opening up a door and letting some light in I noticed a puddle at the base of the generator surrounded by dead crickets. It was gas. I looked under the fuel tank and saw that the weld that held on the threaded bung for the fuel petcock was cracked and leaking. I don't know how I missed that yesterday, but I did. We had lost all our gas. I came back in the house and shared that news since everyone was waiting for coffee and some power to charge phones and the like.

Back in the garage I had to figure something out. We had a backup generator, but it was small and couldn't power all our freezers. I needed this big one to run. I pulled the fuel line and noticed it was 3/8 line. I looked around the garage for something else that ran on this size of fuel line. Well hot damn, our riding lawnmower used the same line size! I moved it around and hooked up the fuel tank to the generator's carb and we were off to the races. I still needed gas though.

I would use the little fuel we had to cool down our food. I heard from our neighbors that Pisgah Brewing was emptying their brew tanks for people to drink. Apparently they had one or two that were only full of clean water. We drove over there and filled up all our containers. We had drinking water, now we needed fuel.

That gentleman from Blue Ridge was coming down our road about the same time I was outside in the driveway. I flagged him down and asked him if he needed cigarettes still. He was in dire need. As my father smokes, I told him I'd trade him 2 packs for some fuel. Blue Ridge has their own gas and a manual pump for it so I knew it was there. He left and came back shortly with 5 gallons of gas. This would last us a few days.

We had cold food, gas, and water. I also saw that many people were pooling up near our Interstate bridge in town. We were curious and left the house again and stopped there as well. Soon after we would hear a ping on our phone. There was reception here, but it was weak. We tried to make a call but it wouldn't go out. We then decided to head over to my Machine Shop as it was close to the highway as well. We finally found some reception on the road in front of my shop as we were trying to get to Swannanoa. There was tons of mud and buildings in the road so we couldn't get very far. We did manage to text our friends and let them know we were OK.

The next day we ventured out again to try to make contact. We didn't have to travel as far and the internet seemed stronger. We made a facebook post on Ryan's Race page about needed fuel, food, and water. We then called our friends and had a phone call giving them the updates of what had been going on.

It wasn't very long before we would find a spot at our home where phones would work. I'm talking a square foot of space where I could text. It was spotty at best, but we had it.

Our racetrack friends would come to our aid like I never imagined. We had some local friends that had a Prius. They drove 2 hours around all the blockages and the like to bring us some gas and water. They are only usually 15 minutes from us down in Old Fort, NC.

The next day we would have two dropoffs from Racing for ALS friends. The first was more food, gas, and water. That afternoon another track buddy came up with another generator, tons of gas, and MREs by the case. We were good for months now, it was amazing. My father is still shocked by all this. He thought my wife's racing was just a thing, and quickly saw the family that has formed around her.

The next day I went to my shop to see how it fared. The owner was there and I soon got a phone call. It was more Racing for ALS friends wanting to know what they could do to help. I told them to fill up their trailers with provisions and come up here as one lane of I40 was open to traffic at this time. I asked my boss if we could put the stuff at our shop to keep it safe at night as it's fenced and would have security once the power was back on. He said yes, and they were on their way the next day. They brought so much! It was mindblowing. Three race trailers full of chainsaws, food, water, gas, you name it.

I saw my friend, Jason Ward, that day as well. I told him we had stuff at our shop if he needed anything. He then told him they were starting up a supply hub at Silverado's, which is right across the street. We were in business! I contacted all my guys at our shop I could and told them to come get supplies, and we would begin to operate our shop as a dropoff/supply location. Silverado's would do the same, and we would accept all the overflow goods as they don't have to acreage we do. Oliver Anthony, another friend of ours, made a couple facebook posts about what we were doing and it was on. We have since moved thousands of tons of goods out into our community.

This entire time all we saw as Helicopters flying over as well, which we would learn to be Savage Freedoms. They were operating out of a local Harley shop at the time. We supplemented them with goods as well and they have since moved to our property, which is amazing. And the sirens, literally going off the entire time. I was armed of course, as was the rest of the house. Black Mountain Police would recruit 50 more officers from the surrounding area so our town was heavy on officer presence. This was great for us, but pushed the vultures to Swannanoa. That was why we needed to have a well guarded supply hub.

For 1 month we had lines and lines of civilian donations inbound. US Army used us to get goods to locals, we filled Chinooks with things to bring to the Chimney Rock area, we housed volunteers, we sent caravans out with goods to give to locals all over the place. They still come, but nothing like it was that first few weeks. They were backed up for miles.

We did a ton of stuff, and are still doing that. I am blessed to be in a leadership position in order to help facilitate that although I have stepped back since my shop is fully up and running and I have to make sure we can keep the lights on.

It's been wild, and there is so much I missed. No matter what you guys hear on the news know that this area is still so damaged. It's bad here. Most areas still look the same as they did on Day 1. I don't really know what everyone is waiting on, but we don't have enough heavy equipment to do what is needed here. We have done what we can to make everyone comfortable, and now we wait. I hope that after his inauguration Trump changes things for our people. Winter is hard here.

Thank you for listening.

P.S. The majority of the videos we took are on my wife's facebook page. Have a look if you'd like:

Facebook

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Quattro15,

Quattro, incredible story! Thank you for sharing it with and God bless you all there. It's so good to hear that people band together to help everyone.

quote:

Originally posted by 6guns:
Quattro, incredible story! Thank you for sharing it with and God bless you all there. It's so good to hear that people band together to help everyone.

There are good people in these Hills. It's still going to be a long winter for most.

I was in Franklin over thanksgiving, we have family in Hendersonville too, so we drove over for Tommy to see his cousins. Because I had looked earlier and dad had talked to a lot of folks we went thru Waynesville to 19, 40 to I26, then south to Hville. Coming back I had seen I26 looking like a parking lot so we came back on 191 thru candler and onto 19, canton and Clyde till we got back onto 64.

Those towns were completely flooded. The roads had been cleaned and there was an incinerator burning trees just to get rid of them. The roadway was still covered in trees. You could see where people had to walk out to the road over foot bridges they had made, where the water had washed out whole 2lane bridges. Dirt still on the pavement , it was just depressing-as I’ve seen flooding before.

God bless everyone affected by the storm. Mom n dad we’re lucky in Macon county, they lost power for a few days and phones were out but nothing like places east of them.

The US government and NCs government has let their citizens down, and I hope they all remember and vote accordingly when it comes for local elections. They have already spoken for national elections.

Thank you for telling about your experience and all the awesome volunteers that helped you help others!
God Bless.

Wow, talk about shades of "One Second After"!

If it doesn't use electricity, what operates your water supply in normal times? Were you able to find out what caused the interruption in service?

Incredible! You guys have really taken care of yourselves! .gov seems to be more of an impediment than a help. Proud of the mountain people of NC!

RMD

quote:

Originally posted by marksman41:
Wow, talk about shades of "One Second After"!

If it doesn't use electricity, what operates your water supply in normal times? Were you able to find out what caused the interruption in service?

My specific water supply, as well as much of black mountain, runs off of artesian wells. No pumps required. The lines were ruptured though, and then the wells ran dry flowing into the Swannanoa River. Took a hot second for them to rebuild pressure.

Thank you for sharing your experience, Quattro. I knew it's been bad but now know it's even worse than I imagined.
About the only good that might come from it is FEMA might get overhauled.

Quite an ordeal. It never ceases to amaze me how good people can be in a crisis. Interesting you mentioned Jason Ward; I've been following him for years.

quote:

Originally posted by chbibc:
Quite an ordeal. It never ceases to amaze me how good people can be in a crisis. Interesting you mentioned Jason Ward; I've been following him for years.

We went to high school together. He's a good guy.

quote:

Originally posted by marksman41:
Wow, talk about shades of "One Second After"!

What I was thinking reading this thread, as if William Forstchen was writing it.

Quattro15, Thank you for posting this, extremely compelling story of tenacity, and I hope things get back to a more normal state for all in Black Mountain soon.

Thanks for taking the time to post.

Quattro15,

We are contemplating a move to WNC, Hendersonville area in 2026. What is the situation now, and is recovery progressing?

Thank you for posting this account of the Helene experience. Hoping for a speedy recovery for all of those impacted.

God Bless you and your family. God sees what you are doing and in a time of need such this, this labor is priceless.

quote:

Originally posted by scratchy:
Quattro15,

We are contemplating a move to WNC, Hendersonville area in 2026. What is the situation now, and is recovery progressing?

Thank you for posting this account of the Helene experience. Hoping for a speedy recovery for all of those impacted.

I was in Hendersonville, and the damage there was not as bad as Buncombe County (Asheville) and places North. My SIL lives there and they were w/o for a few days. Although they live right in town. The surrounding areas like Flat Rock Etna and more were damaged by winds, destroying whole apple orchards etc.

quote:

Originally posted by scratchy:
Quattro15,

We are contemplating a move to WNC, Hendersonville area in 2026. What is the situation now, and is recovery progressing?

Thank you for posting this account of the Helene experience. Hoping for a speedy recovery for all of those impacted.

It's recovered well enough here, unless you live right by a river you should be ok. Just be prepared to see some wild debris piles on the water's edge in places.

quote:

Originally posted by mrvmax:
Thanks for taking the time to post.

Thank you for taking the time to read it!

Quattro thank you for taking the time to to post this thread. We have a home in Arden near the airport but we’re out of the country when Helene hit. We contemplated cancelling our trip but quickly realized that resources were stretched very thin and since our house was undamaged we could wait until we returned in mid November.

As a small add on to your story, once I returned I found out that water had just been restored the day before, over SIX weeks after the storm.Amazing. I tried to get our internet up and was getting more and more frustrated so I decided to go outside and look at all the downed trees we had (about 25 full size ones) and noticed across one of the root balls of a tree that had fallen over was an orange wire! My internet line. It was getting late so I decided to go into Asheville the next morning and use the wifi at a little breakfast place we go to and call Spectrum. The last time I had to do that it took them 2 weeks to come to my place so I was expecting to wait. When I finally got a live person on the phone I explained to the nice woman that a root ball had pulled up our wire and she asked me where I lived. She then put me on hold (and I was expecting to wait another 15 minutes) and came back a minute later and said she could have a team there in half an hour!!! WTF? I haven’t finished my breakfast yet so I asked her if we could postpone the call to 1 pm and she said yes.

One o’clock rolls around and two vans roll up and the guys confirm that the wire was the culprit. They told me that they were from San Diego and were part of a team of more than 100 people that Spectrum had pulled from all over the country to try and get things up and running. They had been working almost exclusively in Black Mountain and said that have several more months of work there.. They spliced my wire up and came inside to make sure everything was working properly. That was the best utility service I had ever received.

Quattro thank you for such a well-written summary of your experience and that of your neighbors. Glad you, your family, and neighbors are all safe. Certainly, makes clear that in the case of such a disaster you must rely on your family, friends, and neighbors--not the local, state, or federal government, though it sounds as if the Chinook helicopters were a godsend for helping others outside your immediate area. Stay well!