Home Care In Barnardsville, NC

Asheville Citizen Times

BARNARDSVILLE - It wasn't until Ivy Creek rose over its banks that Kate Thomas began to suspect real trouble.

At a friend's house in Barnardsville, she watched as the front yard became a marsh, then a river. The neighbor's house, closer to the creek, was quickly swamped in muddy brown water. They tried to call the woman who lived there and couldn't get her to pick up the phone.

It was Sept. 27, the morning Tropical Storm Helene wreaked havoc throughout Western North Carolina. During the storm, Ivy Creek rose to 15.4 feet. Its normal base flow is closer to three.

Watching from the nearby house, set further back on the property, Thomas said they were quickly realizing the neighbor "might not make it if she stayed."

Thomas, who has swift water rescue experience, said she assessed the risk and made her decision. Donning lifejacket, helmet and using a paddle as a "third leg," with a throw rope extending back to safety, she waded through the water. At that point, it was up to her thigh. When she reached the house, she helped the neighbor out the kitchen window.

“Thankfully we did that, because about 10 minutes later it would have been a stupid idea," Thomas said, as water continued to rise. With backpacks ready, she and others evacuated to higher ground. From the new vantage point, they watched trucks float by. A giant gas canister was punctured and doing laps in what used to be the yard.

Soon after the water began to recede, they made their way down to the community's center, where people had already begun to gather.

Barnardsville, a small unincorporated community in Buncombe County, like others in Western North Carolina, saw devastating flooding from Helene. Many were left without power or water. Homes were cut off by downed trees, debris and collapsed roads and bridges.

The storm has been described as causing "biblical devastation," by officials. In Buncombe County, 72 deaths have been confirmed as of 10 a.m. Oct. 4. The death toll in Western North Carolina had risen to at least 108 people.

Old firehouse transforms into community-led hub

The old brick firehouse in town, just off Barnardsville Highway, was transformed in recent days. Its bays were stacked high with supplies, from canned goods and water to clothes. A billboard, built out on plywood, compiled information to aid response.

There was a whiteboard to note down needed tree removal, carpentry, cleanup, and road repair. Numbers to call to apply for disaster relief, to report someone missing or if "stressed out" and looking for someone to talk to.

A "vast majority" of road clearing was accomplished by community, said Natalie Bogwalker — people showing up with chainsaws and tractors, before any relief arrived.

“Through this mutual aid space, and also just in all the hollers, people helping people has been paramount,” she said.

Thomas, who works for Navitat, a Barnardsville-based adventure zipline company, and others on staff, said the company lent RTVs and vans to support the response effort.

'The capacity to care for ourselves'

In the wake of the storm, Chloe Lieberman, among the community volunteers, said people rallied almost immediately. They first gathered at the Barnardsville post office, with efforts around a community kitchen and water distribution, before settling in at the former firehouse across the street.

It has been dubbed Barnardsville Disaster Relief Distribution Hub No. 2, Lieberman said, working within a network of other relief hubs at the nearby elementary school and community center, which were stood up later. The firehouse effort is entirely community-led, "a self-organized project that is six days old," she said Oct. 3, working to fill gaps before state and federal responses arrived.

“The thing that speaks to, to me, is that we are the local community," Lieberman said. "We have the capacity to care for ourselves immediately because we are here. And part of the reason why this is working as well as it is, is because of existing relationships and existing skillsets.”

Teams of volunteers have rebuilt bridges, offered first aid care, cleared roads and made welfare checks, at times connecting to people who had been cut off for days, she said.

Local fire departments have also been working since the beginning, she said.

“The faces that you see here are some of us, and we’re a hub, but lots and lots of local folks in this valley have just done what they can,” she said.

Theo-Mae Dyer, another volunteer, was joining the medic crew Oct. 3, ready to do whatever "grunt work" was needed.

“We take care of us, and we couldn’t wait for some outside force to come in," Dyer said. As for what comes next? "I think it's just more of this."

Local contractor mobilizes

Up Dillingham Road, which follows the bends of Ivy Creek, the river had swollen and escaped its banks, sweeping trees and homes into mass piles of debris and twisted metal, eroding earth and collapsing bridges. Homes were flooded, leaving many residents to wonder how to rebuild.

At D&D Grocery, on Oct. 3, across from a bridge clogged with detritus, Brock Mountain Land Co., a natural disaster contractor, had set up its command center. Owner Quincey Brock is from Barnardsville, and mobilized even before the tropical storm reached them, project manager Clint Shepherd told the Citizen Times.

Shepherd is also from Barnardsville.

When they got wind of the storm, the company came home with all of its assets on the East Coast, Shepherd said — about 75 team members, four highway dump trucks, four heavy haul tractor trailers and 30 pieces of heavy equipment, in various sizes.

The flooding "took out everything," he said. "Houses. Roads. Everything."

He said work began the night and morning of the storm. They have cleared trees, created a way into Dillingham Valley, whose access was impassable, rebuilt roads and worked alongside NCDOT field operations, which arrived on day two. Brock assisted US Cellular teams to access communication towers, Shepherd said, and coordinated with Cajun Navy Relief and community efforts.

Brock Mountain's efforts in Barnardsville were a volunteer relief effort.

"This is our home. This is our family. These are our people," Shepherd said.

Sarah Honosky is the city government reporter for the Asheville Citizen Times, part of the USA TODAY Network. News Tips? Email [email protected] or message on Twitter at @slhonosky. Please support local, daily journalism with a subscription to the Citizen Times.