Echoes of Helene, Article 1: The Storm Hits

Jennifer: When the storm hit, it was like nothing I have ever been involved in.

Jennifer: We had to keep the people in the shelter calm. We were trying to keep tabs on the news from the outside world, but the TV and internet were spotty. We tried to convince people things were ok but the roof on the barn across the street flew off, the roof over our covered shelter just completely disappeared only to reappear on top of the resource officer’s car. 

 As a member of the Emergency Services, I can hear everything that’s going on in the county on my radio, but I couldn’t leave this shelter. I was committed to this shelter and to hear all the radio traffic, to hear my husband, to hear my son, to hear all these people on the radio talking about trees down, things going on, and not only here in Glenwood but hearing things across the county. I was hearing 911 calls of people trapped and knowing they couldn’t get to these people. That was the really hard part.

My daughter Amy was here. She had gone home to grab some stuff but she was coming back right as the storm hit. She got trapped between 2 trees. A tree fell over here at the school by the dumpster and also between her and me. She couldn’t get to me. She called me crying. I could see her, standing in the parking lot in the middle of the storm, and see her car but I couldn’t get to her. 

Then I hear my husband Ronald on the radio saying it’s getting too bad out there, they needed to abort. All of the fire departments across the county said get to a safe location. They came back. Dougie McCormick came with a wheel loader and just bulldozed the roads to where they could at least get to the station and so they could get to Amy to get her out. That’s what I remember most of that first day - debris flying, trees flying, roofs falling, and just knowing my family is out there and I can’t get to them but I’m here doing what I can to help other people.

Jennifer: I’ve been to a couple different conferences with Emergency Services about Helene since. They were hearing the same radio traffic I was, but so much more of it where the people were calling in screaming for help, but there was nothing the dispatchers could do because no one could get to them. 

It took 17 hours to get up Armstrong Creek to save a man who had gotten washed away and was clinging to a tree. It took 3 days to get to a family whose husband had a broken back but still had to crawl out to get help so that they could get back to his wife.

Natasha: One lady was found holding on to the underside of a bridge and to her pet chicken. The chicken came to the shelter with her. 

An elderly woman picked her husband up and sat him on top of the dresser. He was not a small man; I’m not sure how she did it. They waited for someone to come rescue them. Finally they saw someone outside the window and began screaming for help.

Natasha: There’s a story I’ll never be able to forget. A mom and dad lived behind Old Fort’s Hillman Brewing with their twin babies and little boy. The water broke their trailer in half. The dad, little boy, and one of the babies were on one side of it, and the mom and other baby were on the other side. The half the mom and one baby were in, began washing away. She got pinned between the refrigerator and the wall with the baby in her arms. She saw a rescue boat coming by and just handed her baby out. She didn’t know who she was handing the baby to, but just said, “Please save my baby!” He promised he would come back for her after getting the baby to safety. At the end of that day the dad, 3 children, and mom all walked into the shelter together. Just to hear something like that from somebody that that had actually happened to, is unreal to me.

Jennifer: In our own community.

Natasha: Yes! I tell that story to people and they just can’t believe it. But I heard it first hand and saw the pictures.

Jennifer: Our shelter had its record high the night people were rescued from Baxter’s roof. Not including our staff, we had 240 shelter guests. Including people like Natasha and the other volunteers, we had probably 300 people staying here that night. 

The people rescued from Wild Acres had to be flown out, then were dropped off with the National Guard. The National Guard brought them to us. 

Natasha: The National Guard had to pile as many people as they could into their truck beds, just to be able to rescue them all and deliver them to the shelter. 

Jennifer: Not all of them stayed here more than a night. Some came in late and had just been trying to get back across the mountains to Burnsville or wherever to try to make contact with their families. Some of them hadn’t even heard from their family.

It was heartbreaking. One young man came in and just sat crying. He lived with his grandparents in Burnsville but he couldn’t make contact with them. He was so worried not knowing if they were still alive.

We had a family walk in with absolutely nothing but their baby and a bag of breastmilk that she was able to save. They were covered in mud. We had other people who just didn't have power. We had people from one extreme to the other, but everyone was welcomed and treated as guests. A main part of our job was just comforting those people that came in and making sure they had what they needed. 

Natasha: One day a blackhawk helicopter touched down across the road. The pilot jumped out. 

“I’m just here to check on everybody but also I need to know how many more people you can take.”

I radioed Jennifer and asked how many more we could take. She said tell them to send them. It didn't matter how many, we’d find a place to put them. They thought they had found a group of people. But they were mountain people that didn't want to leave. They felt they were fine.