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Evacuees at Ag Center rescued from dire conditions

ells and her cat, Garfield, were rescued by boat on Friday. [PHOTO BY HOLLY KAYS]

By HOLLY KAYS, The Assembly, Published: September 30, 2024

FLETCHER — Just two weeks ago, the Western North Carolina Agricultural Center in Fletcher was an epicenter of joy and merriment for the thousands of people who poured in for the annual Mountain State Fair. Now, it’s serving as both an emergency shelter for 300 people survivors of Hurricane Helene and a distribution center for meals, water, and necessities like baby diapers and formula.

“I’m 67 years old, and I’m getting tired of restarting my life over and over,” said Swannanoa resident Ann Wells, who was at the shelter Sunday afternoon. The mobile home Wells moved into about a month ago washed away in Hurricane Helene’s floodwaters. On Friday morning first responders paddling boats rescued her and her cat, Garfield, from the same fate.

“I’ve spent close to $6,000, $7,000 in just moving expenses and hiring people to come and help me move my stuff in that place, and now I have nothing,” she said. “It’s all gone.”

Lynn Bell, 64, was still waiting to hear what happened to her home in Barnardsville, about half an hour north of Asheville. She left at 5 o'clock Thursday evening, before the worst of the flooding hit.

“If the house is still there when I get home, then I have a house,” she said.

Jillian Tucker, 38, and Shawn Worley, 43, had already been homeless for two years when the rain began Wednesday evening. The water rose quickly on Tunnel Road, where they were eating dinner at the Panda Express, and they spent two nights sheltered under a porch at the nearby mall. Friday morning was the worst of it, said Worley—that’s when the wind changed direction, bringing down trees and powerlines everywhere.

“That’s one of the scarier storms I’ve been in,” Tucker said. “We didn’t think it was going to be near as bad as it was. I don’t think anyone was prepared.”

Across Asheville and throughout the entire western portion of North Carolina, homes, roads, and in some cases, entire towns, have been destroyed. With as much as 29 inches of rain falling in some areas, water levels rose higher than in the fabled Charleston Hurricane of 1916. Power and cell phone outages continued into Sunday; even the shelter didn’t have power until late in the afternoon.

During a visit to the shelter Sunday, Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson called for a rapid and robust response to help those hurting. 

"This is an epic proportion, folks,” he said. “I’ve never seen anything like this in this state. We really need to bring everything to bear, and we need all hands on deck. We need to put politics aside, and we need to focus on being North Carolinians and human beings and get done what we need to get done for the people of Western North Carolina.”

Responders were still working to get showers and additional toilets at the shelter, which is jointly operated by Buncombe County and the State of North Carolina. The American Red Cross is participating as a support unit. Shelter manager Sue Edwards, a Red Cross volunteer who has seen her share of disaster responses, said this scramble to secure basic necessities is typical.

As the response progresses, power returns and people start getting connected with the resources they need to move on with their lives, she expects to see things calm down and settle into a rhythm. But for now, keeping the shelter running is a nonstop, take-the-blows-as-they-come, full-steam-ahead endeavor. Edwards spoke in the midst of an endless workday interrupted only by the couple hours of sleep she’d managed to catch on the shelter’s kitchen floor the previous night. 

These efforts have not gone unnoticed by shelter residents. 

“The staff, the volunteers—to me, it’s top notch,” said Navy veteran Paul Oakes, 56, one of several veterans to be evacuated from the Veterans Restoration Quarters in Asheville. “It’s easy to give someone food or this and that, but to get compassion with it, it’s a plus.”

Peggy Rosencrance, 81, is staying at the shelter because the power is out at her house, and she needs electricity to use her oxygen tank. She said she is “overwhelmed” by the kindness of the people she’s met. 

“It’s not a good time,” she said. “It’s not a party, but people are just so humanistic…so Christ-like, I guess.”