SWANNANOA, N.C. – Nearly a month after Hurricane Helen ravaged areas of the Southeast and killed more than 250 people, North Carolina residents are still feeling the heat even as nighttime temperatures dip into the 30s. He is sleeping in a tent where his home used to be.
Chris Weil is one of several people in hard-hit Swannanoa sleeping with their dogs in a tent outside their home, which was destroyed by severe flooding and strong winds on September 27th. Mr. Weil's story is nothing short of miraculous.
Less than 24 hours before the storm hit the Appalachians, Weil's eight-month pregnant girlfriend was rushed to the hospital complaining of chest pains. Weil was at home preparing for the birth when she started receiving flood alerts on her phone, unaware that she would soon be left with nothing.
Weil observed water rapidly flooding his neighborhood and entering his home.
“The house was completely washed off its foundations and we, along with myself, a friend and our three dogs, were sucked in through the back window. However, as it happened, we managed to survive until a swift water rescue boat came to rescue us. He survived. He just showed up in town from Chicago, Illinois,” Weil told FOX News Digital. “They came and rescued us from the tree in a rescue boat and we are staying in tents.”
Water flooded Weil's house, forcing him out through a broken back window. As water poured in, he was able to grab onto a vine growing in a tree in his backyard with one hand and grab one of his dogs with the other.
A rescue boat from Cook County, Illinois, arrived about six hours later and transported Weil and his friend to safety.
If she hadn't gone to the hospital before the storm hit, “she would have been in that tree with me,” Weil said of his girlfriend.
For days, Weil had no cell phone service or Wi-Fi to reach his girlfriend, but when he finally found a way to reach her, she was at UNC Medical Center in Chapel Hill. I learned that she had given birth to several healthy babies. There are only a few weeks left until the due date of October 20th.
The couple named their baby “Sage Nevaeh.” Her middle name is “Heaven” spelled backwards. Weil said Sage will be discharged from the NICU soon. His girlfriend qualified for a program that provides free temporary housing, and both she and her baby are doing well.
“The church and the community are the people who have helped us the most, and it's very encouraging to know that we are not forgotten. The people are amazing,” Weil said. spoke. “Their will power and love for others is amazing. … They came here in droves and brought us everything we needed. And they made sure we were okay. They didn't want to leave until they knew that.”
Volunteers donated several tents, bicycles, food, a camp stove and propane to Vile and her dog. Emerge Ministries was able to find someone to donate a car so Vile could visit his girlfriend and newborn baby.
Less than a mile from Weil, Dara Cody and her neighbors sleep in tents where their home once stood in a picturesque garden on the banks of the Swannanoa River.
“For some reason, I couldn't sleep that night,” Cody said of the night Hurricane Helen hit, adding that he “kept checking the water level in the river behind his home, where he has lived since 2010.” he added. .
“Something wouldn't let me rest. I almost fell asleep several times, but something woke me up,” she explained. “But I couldn't rest until about 5 in the morning when I woke up and went to look. … It jumped about 12 feet in 30 minutes … and it was much higher up in my garden and much deeper. It was.”
At that point, Cody woke up his partner and said, If you don't, we won't succeed. ”
They grabbed whatever personal belongings they could and fled the house. The house is now a patch of dirt on the banks of the river, and that morning the river flowed far over its banks, destroying houses, cars, and land. The couple found shelter while Helen passed through the area, but when they returned the next day to where their home once stood, it was “completely gone.”
“Like, is this a dream? What is going on here? I didn't know how to feel,” Cody recalls.
“My house, my car, everything is completely gone. And the devastation, not only of my house, but of the entire town, is so heartbreaking that I have no words,” she said. “It was a shock. It hurt. It hurt. But it just broke my heart to think about my entire town. I've lived here my whole life.”
In the weeks since, Cody has been trying to collect as much of the remains of his home as possible. Volunteers from Emerge Ministries are helping her clean up and sort the debris. At night, Cody, his partner, and a neighbor sleep in tents along the edge of the now-destroyed Swannanoa River.
She added that she is also a candidate for a tiny house “if the county allows it.”
“All the volunteers that came here went above and beyond our expectations and were more generous than we could have ever imagined,” Cody said. “They all did more for us than we ever imagined anyone else, especially strangers, would do for us. An outpouring of love, compassion, and generosity. And people's donations have just blown our minds.”
Shannon Martin Easley of Louisiana and Judy Norris of North Carolina are volunteers with Emerge Ministries who have been supporting Cody and others in the aftermath of Helen. The department has between 50 and 150 volunteers in the Western North Carolina region “from all over the country,” who provide assistance “every day,” Easley said.
“My uncle cleared the driveway for a man a few days ago and he hadn't seen a human in 20 days,” Easley said. “How many more people are like him?”
Volunteers from Ohio and Maryland also spoke to Fox News Digital in Swannanoa.
Martha Hershberger and her husband, Roy, of Shekinah Christian Fellowship of Ohio, serve hot meals under a tent in a parking lot off the main road in Swannanoa. She estimates she and other volunteers serve 1,500 to 2,000 meals per day.
“We dealt with some people who lost their homes, and we also talked to people who saw their neighbors drown and everything washed away,” Hershberger said. “We've talked to some people who have homes. They lost power for a little while, but they're all affected by the trauma.”
Hershberger added that people in western North Carolina will need “long-term support.”
Several volunteers from Maryland expressed similar sentiments. Barbara Kaufman of A Lady and a Hop Maryland LLC, David Hawkins of Hawkins Landscaping, and Michelle Peyton of Pulling for Veterans all deliver goods and services to those in need. He came to Swannanoa from Frederick for the purpose of Kaufman said he went to the area to help people clean damaged homes.
“You need boots on the ground and you need to pull the plow by hand,” Kaufman said. “The people here need help.”
“Yes, they shouldn't be sleeping in tents,” Peyton added.
A total of 26 North Carolinians remain missing after Helen's incident. The storm caused widespread damage in seven states, with some towns expected to take years to recover. Local residents and volunteers likened the devastation in Helen to a war zone.
