North Carolina: Man walks 11 miles to reach his parents

CNN
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It had been 48 hours since Hurricane Helene’s winds and rain tore through western North Carolina, and Sam Perkins still hadn’t heard from his parents.

So he got into his car Saturday morning and drove to their home, located on a mountain between Spruce Pine and Little Switzerland, to find them.

“My parents live in an absolute gem of the North Carolina mountains,” Perkins said in a post about his experience. The area is about an hour’s drive from Asheville. “Under normal circumstances it is pleasantly isolated,” he added.

‘I didn’t know Helene demolished roads, houses and utilities there. This area is completely cut off from raw materials in all directions.”

According to CNN figures, more than a hundred people have died after Helene swept through the southeastern United States, including at least thirty in Buncombe County, where Asheville is located. North Carolina was hit hard: Days of persistent flooding turned roads into waterways, leaving many stranded without basic necessities and straining state resources.

Gov. Roy Cooper called it “one of the worst storms in modern history.” Although supplies have been deployed, at least 280 roads are still closed across the state, making it difficult for officials to get them to areas in need, Cooper said.

When he realized how many roads had been cut, Perkins said he left his car near a closed highway at the bottom of the mountain and started walking to his parents’ house.

“I tried every road route I could, but the roads, wherever you go, are blocked by landslides or faults,” Perkins explained to CNN. “I can’t tell you how many bad roads and deep mudslides I’ve had to cross, how many fallen trees I’ve had to take off my backpack and navigate through.”

While walking, Perkins said he came across several people stuck because of the destroyed highway. For more than three and a half hours, Perkins said he hiked 11 miles and 2,000 feet in elevation to finally reach his parents’ home.

“I’ve never been so relieved to see someone doing well,” Perkins told CNN, adding that his parents are in their 70s but quite resourceful people.

“I just hugged them, cried, told them about all the news they were missing…Walked around the building and helped them decide how to tackle certain challenges.”

Perkins found his parents in good health and their home mostly in order, but they were essentially trapped and unable to walk down the mountain, he said.

‘They have food. They are essentially out of water, but they have enough propane to cook as soon as they need to,” Perkins told CNN on Sunday, noting that restoring power to their area could take weeks.

After finding his parents Saturday, fog and rain rolled in and Perkins decided to head back down. “I didn’t want to use their supplies, so I went ahead and decided to pull out,” Perkins explained, and on the way down he was even able to hitch a ride on an undamaged section of road with someone in the car. community.

And that community is strong, he said: “Everything you would expect from Southern Hospitality.”

His mother was able to send him a message earlier on Sunday, which was mainly aimed at purchasing items for her neighbors.

“I’m still processing it all. I’ve never seen anything like it,” Perkins said. “There will be no more power in a few weeks. I cannot fathom how long it will take (the Department of Transportation) to repair the winding roads along the steep mountainsides.”

Just east of Buncombe County and the hard-hit city of Asheville is McDowell County, where more than 20 air rescues have been conducted since early Saturday morning, the county’s emergency management said in a news release Saturday.

The heavy rains caused the Swannanoa River to overflow its banks, flooding McDowell and other counties in the region.

Jim and Allie Bourdy had moved to their home in Beacon Village, located next to the river, eight years ago. When the Swannanoa flowed and overflowed, everything they owned was destroyed.

The couple and their dog were forced to climb onto their neighbor’s roof for safety, Jim Bourdy told CNN on Sunday.

“We literally lost everything,” Jim Bourdy said. “We lost both our cars and a small camper. The life we ​​built here is gone.”

They tried to evacuate Friday evening, but flooding made roads impassable, Bourdy said. Unable to avoid the floodwaters, the couple and their dog, Piper, retreated home to gather supplies and plan their next move.

But soon after, the water started seeping in.

“We were standing on our porch and the water was up to our waists,” said Bourdy, who had Piper strapped to his back at the time.

As the water continued to rise, the couple knew their only chance of survival was to climb to their neighbor’s roof, which was lower than theirs. They were able to use two Styrofoam exercise boxes as a flotation device to cross.

While on the roof, they called 911 but were told no one could come and rescue them, Bourdy said.

About an hour later, a neighbor came in a kayak and took them one by one to higher ground.

“The moment we reached higher ground, I knew the only two things that mattered in my life are my wife and my dog,” Bourdy recalls.

They then went to another neighbor’s house to dry off and change clothes. That evening, Bourdy said, they spent a night at a shelter. The next morning they were able to contact a good friend with whom they are now staying.

Bourdy returned to the house on Sunday to see what he could salvage. But other than a few cans and camping gear, everything would eventually be thrown away, he said.

“Honestly, literally everything just disappeared,” he said. “(Flood water) was up to the gutters.”

With firewood in her hands, Meredith Keisler, a school nurse in Asheville, told CNN, “We collect wood because we have a grill, to make a fire, to cook food.”

“I’ve never seen anything like this,” Keisler added, noting she has no water, power or cell service.

It’s a sentiment echoed by many in the community.

Michelle Coleman, the executive director of a religious organization called Asheville Dream Center, told CNN she has never seen Asheville in this state before.

“This is the most devastating thing I have ever seen in our entire city,” Coleman said. “Our prayer is that people will not lose hope as our community comes together. Asheville is a strong community.”

Gary O’Dell, a disabled Vietnam War veteran, told CNN that Sunday was the first day he was able to leave his East Asheville home because of the rubble. But he stressed: “The neighbors were great. We have a good neighborhood.”

He said he shared his oxygen tank with a neighbor. “My neighbor ran out of oxygen, he’s in worse shape than me,” said O’Dell, who has lung cancer. He added that his daughter lost her home due to the floods.

“There are so many people in worse shape than me and we are lucky, we have our house and we are dry and safe,” O’Dell added.

Lucy Tavernier, who is part of a group helping with the cleanup, said the area “looks like the bottom of a river.”

It is covered in “trash, trees and mud, and it stinks,” she said.

Tavernier recalled seeing materials on her front lawn from a store she frequented near her home. She said she thinks the site was washed away by the storm.

CNN’s Sara Smart, Isabel Rosales, Rafael Romo, Jade Gordon, Sharif Paget, Ashley R. Williams, Raja Razek and Zoe Sottile contributed to this report.

Correction: An earlier version of this story misstated the location where at least 30 people were killed. It’s Buncombe County.