Orange County community reflects on Hurricane Helene's impact in western N.C.

UNC sophomore Cassandra DeLoughery went 24 hours without hearing from her parents or brother on Friday, Sept. 27 — that’s when she knew something was wrong.

DeLoughery said she texted each of them individually and reached out to them on all social media platforms hoping to get a response. 

“I said ‘I have my ringer on as soon as this comes in, as soon as you have enough service, please call me’ because I just wanted to make sure I could hear their voices,” she said.

DeLoughery’s family was in their Asheville home when Hurricane Helene swept through the neighborhood, leaving behind flooded basements and fallen trees. She said her family has been without power, water or cell service since the storm first hit.

This past week, DeLoughery spent many sleepless nights calling her parents, brother, grandmother, neighbors and friends. She said her head has been focused on the news and social media posts documenting the destruction. Her first wake-up call to the severity of the storm, she said, was a picture of an almost 30-foot-tall building near her home almost completely submerged in water. 

Without internet, DeLoughery has become her family's only source of information about what is going on outside their neighborhood. She said it's difficult to focus on schoolwork or studying for upcoming midterms because she is trying to stay updated on the damage happening back home.

“I think it's really hard to be here in Chapel Hill, just going on as if life was normal, while I know back home so many people are struggling, and so many people's lives just got upended,” DeLoughery said.

Zoe Schruckmayr, a UNC sophomore from Asheville, said being unable to help out directly has been difficult. Like DeLoughery, her family has relied on her to provide information about what is happening in the greater western North Carolina area.

Schruckmayr said she received a random call from an unknown number that Friday which she let go to voicemail. When she listened back to the message, it was her mother telling her their family was OK but they wouldn’t be able to talk for a few days.

She said she was confused and had no idea the extent of the storm until she saw the news and TikTok videos of the torrential downpour. Schruckmayr tried to call the number back, but it kept failing because of the lack of cell service.

That Saturday afternoon, she said, her family and hundreds of others in their area went to a local Publix where they were able to send a few messages. On Sunday, they were finally able to speak over the phone.

While no damage occurred to her family home, Schuckmayr said there are fallen trees everywhere and the roads to her other family members' houses — just 10 minutes away — are completely caved in. 

She said she has currently been the one to send her family information about resources like places to receive a free meal or where they can take a shower. 

“Ignorance is bliss because you're not living in the situation actively, but you're seeing so much that nobody else knows,” she said.

Emma Cooke, a Chapel Hill resident and Black Mountain native, said her mother has no internet access, is unable to read the news or see any pictures people are sharing with her. Her mother, however, was able to use Instagram where many are posting about Hurricane Helene’s impact.

Cooke said she did not expect the hurricane to be severe as they often receive flash flood warnings in the area, so she did not feel the need to reach out to check on her mother before the storm. The days following when the hurricane hit are still a blur of anxiety, she said, but she has been able to maintain communication with her mother for a majority of the week.

Originally, Cooke said she believed a tree falling on her mother’s garage was the extent of the storm’s damage, yet she soon realized that much of the town had been destroyed.

Although her mother is OK, Cooke said she spent the week crying because there is no current timeline for when everything in Black Mountain is going to be running again. She said her hometown is completely ruined and the uncertainty of if her mother will have to struggle for food and water is very stressful.

“I think just the aspect of there not really being a timeline for rebuilding and knowing even when they rebuild — if they're able to rebuild — it's not going to quite be the home that I left last time I was there,” Cooke said.

Editor's note: Emma Cooke was formerly a Daily Tar Heel staffer.

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