Soon after Helene’s damaging remnants had passed over Brian Walker’s Asheville neighborhood in late September, the buzz from chainsaws cranked up. Folks cleared their own fallen trees and then moved on to their neighbors. Those without chainsaws provided food and drinks for those clearing trees and roads. Everyone pitched in, says Walker, a vice president at Jefferson-based Vannoy Construction.
That spirit of neighbor-helping-neighbor showed no signs of letting up weeks after Helene first came to shore some 450 miles away in north-central Florida, says Walker.
Vannoy and other construction companies play a pivotal role in the recovery, he says.
“We’re trying to find our place and how our skill sets can best be put to use to help bring our community back together,” says Walker. “If we can repair a building or help get a company back in operation, those are the people that can then provide jobs so that people can get people back to work and begin to put food on their tables again.”
While some areas and people will need time to decide whether to rebuild, Walker predicts western North Carolina’s resilience will shine through.
“It’s hard to imagine an Asheville that doesn’t have a Biltmore Village, and it’s hard to imagine a Rutherford County without a Chimney Rock,” he says.
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COMFORT STATION
Asheville’s Aeroflow escaped serious damage, enabling a focus on helping suffering staffers.
By Kevin Ellis
Hurricane Helene caused minimal disruption to Asheville medical equipment company Aeroflow Health, although dozens of employees were not as lucky, says CEO Casey Hite. While the company that ships breastfeeding pumps, diapers, diabetic supplies and other products nationwide recovered quickly, officials geared their efforts toward helping hundreds of employees left struggling because of the storm.
“In some cases, we had employees riding to other employee’s homes on ATVs to make sure they were OK,” says Hite. Aeroflow created a $400,000 relief fund for workers’ needs, and made simpler moves like creating a pantry at its office, so employees could stock up on supplies.
When Buncombe County businesses became cash-only due to widespread power outages, Aeroflow employees in unaffected areas were asked to withdraw money from their accounts, and then have the company reimburse them. Employees then drove that cash to company headquarters to be divvied out for workers who needed hard currency.
Hite says he would like to say Aeroflow had an emergency plan in place to deal with a gargantuan natural disaster. But like so many others, it was left scrambling by the record-setting flooding, he says. Instead, Aeroflow was guided by principles of remaining flexible and focusing on what it could do to help employees.
“In any business you want all of your staff to operate as owners and the one way to do that is to treat them as owners and access resources when they’re in a time of need,” says Hite. “One of the highest costs for any company is employee turnover, but doing what’s right for your people, people will remember that, people appreciate it, and it builds loyalty.”
Aeroflow has about 1,000 total employees, including 600 in Buncombe County. Most local employees are involved in customer service and about three-fourths of them normally work from home. No employees lost their lives or suffered a serious injury, although several had family members or close friends who did, says Hite.
About 55 employees lost their homes or had severe damage. Company lobbyist Heath Shuler, a former NFL quarterback and congressman, used his connections with Harrah’s Cherokee Hotel and Casino to help secure rooms there for employees. The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians came through for Aeroflow employees when they needed help, Hite says.
Aeroflow used generators to provide electricity to its buildings when necessary, but it lacked internet service from three separate providers for about 36 hours. Many employees who had worked from home remained without the internet as of mid-October. Within a week, about 85% of Aeroflow’s employees had returned to work, with more working from the office than usual, Hite says.
Aeroflow opened a temporary childcare facility at its office since many such businesses were closed. That allowed employees to bring older children to the office while schools were closed.
“It’s a little noisy, but we feel that’s the right thing to do and we think our customers will understand if they hear a child in the background from time to time,” says Hite.
When calm returns, Aeroflow will look at what it did right, and what it can improve on during future emergencies. He predicts it will take years for some communities to recover.
Aeroflow is among Asheville’s most successful companies, having Inc. magazine’s ranking of fastest-growing top 5,000 companies for eight of the past nine years. Revenue increased 143% over the past three years, Inc., according to Inc.
The disaster did come with a rainbow.
“The differences between folks in our community have literally been thrown to the side. It’s like they don’t exist,” says Hite. “We have a liberal hippie in downtown Asheville working hand in hand with a logger who may live 60 miles away who has come in to help assist.” ■
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WASHED AWAY
A McDowell County family rebounds after losing their campground business.
By Noelle Harff
At 9 a.m. on Sept. 27, Pat and Charlie Gowan wedged beach towels underneath their front door, attempting to stop water from entering their house. An hour later, the home and Triple C Campground, opened 49 years ago by Charlie’s parents, were washed away.
The Catawba River near the Gowans’ home rose to a record-breaking 21.44-foot average depth near Pleasant Gardens in McDowell County, between Old Fort and Marion.
The Gowans couldn’t keep the water out. Exiting the front door wasn’t an option because water was up to the door knob. “It’s not rising water, it’s rushing water,” Charlie explains. “There’s a change of elevation… water gets momentum and tears
everything up.”
Around 10 a.m., Pat, Charlie, and their daughter, Elizabeth, 16, escaped out the back window, crossed the road, and climbed a hill 20 yards away.
Minutes later, they watched their family home become unmoored, and their campground wash away.
The Gowans’ two elder children were at their colleges, Gwen at UNC Chapel Hill and Joseph at Appalachian State. They frantically texted their parents. It wasn’t until days later that they received a response: “We’re OK,” was all the message said. “We didn’t want to worry them,” Pat explains.
While the Appalachian Mountains is one of the world’s oldest ranges, having weathered many storms, no one expected anything like this.
A family underwater
The Gowans’ campground was a beloved mountainous spot, where families would return year after year. The camp, open from May to October, has about 80 plots owned by individuals and cared for by the family. “A plot is for sale for maybe a day, and just like that, it’s sold,” Pat says.
The Gowans don’t advertise or have a website. “We don’t need to,” Pat says. “Or didn’t. I never know which tense to use.”
The only full-time resident at Triple C is Hillbilly. “One time a package came for John Owens,” Pat says, but he doesn’t usually respond to that. “I’m Triple C’s security and maintenance,” Owens says. In exchange for living on the Gowans’ land with his dog Spice, Hillbilly helps out around camp. Every time something gets fixed, a zero gets added to his salary, Pat jokes.
Still searching
Walking through what used to be Triple C Campground, the devastation is clear. Chinook helicopters flew overhead 10 days after the storm. The rescue missions had ended, but military personnel were still searching.
In the first days after the storm, more than 100 people in the area around the campground were missing, says Neal Donnelly, a local emergency paramedic.
By Oct. 9, it was five.
The campground is covered in feet of mud and fallen trees. Each campsite, once decorated with lights, signs and porches, was a mass of wreckage. The Gowans’ four-bedroom, one-story home was lifted off its foundation and moved 20 feet.
“I have to start looking and find a landmark to know where I’m at… It looks totally different now,” Charlie says.
As of mid-October, Charlie’s brothers had yet to see what used to be their childhood home and family business. “My older brother, he’s going through chemo, so he’s pretty sick right now,” he says. His younger brother manages a group home.
Facing uncertain futures
Now, the Gowans are left grappling with what to do next. “There are just piles of trees,” Charlie says, stepping over Gwen’s muddied high school graduation cap. She was valedictorian at McDowell
High School.
Charlie and Hillbilly have cut through fallen oaks and cleared roads, but much of the cleanup can’t start until FEMA completes its damage report. The family is unsure of what aid is available.
Triple C will need a new sewer system, new water lines and reinstated power. “We’re talking millions of dollars,”
Pat says. “It’s a big decision. We don’t know what to do next. This was our retirement plan.”
Emergency small business relief from the state exists as loans with interest rates ranging from 4% to 8%. Taking on substantial loans in his mid-50s would
be difficult, “I don’t want to pass that debt onto my children,” he says.
Small businesses across Appalachia face the same dilemma. According to the Federal Emergency Management Agency, 43% of small businesses affected by a disaster never reopen, and another 29% go out of business within two years.
Caring community
The Gowans have hope. “People have truly taken care of us,” Pat says, her voice cracking. “And I’ve probably cried more about that than losing everything.”
Churches from across the county have provided food, water, and shelter. First responders and military personnel from across the country are sleeping in tents and cots, waking up at dawn to help those still trapped in their homes.
“I acknowledge that this is hard. Very hard… but we can do hard things,” Pat says.
After the storm, she sent her children a Bible verse, Romans 15:13: May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him.
“We put our trust in God,” Pat says. ■
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BOONE BOUNCES BACK
Tourism industry appreciates support in trying times.
By Kevin Ellis
The first snow of the season fell in Watauga County on Oct. 16, the same day that Appalachian State students returned to class following an extended break related to the destructive flooding from Helene.
That was also near the height of the leaf-watching season in the High Country, a time when restaurants, shops and hotels are usually filled with visitors anticipating nature’s glory. Boone and Blowing Rock had already welcomed back visitors at that time, although outlying areas were still dealing with utility and road crews making repairs. The Blue Ridge Parkway, one of the most scenic roads in the nation on a crisp fall day with the leaves yellow and red, remained too dangerous for traffic, with the National Park Service offering no timeline for the North Carolina portion to reopen.
“Tread lightly” are the cautionary words to visitors from David Jackson, president of the Boone Area Chamber of Commerce. “Come to Boone and Blowing Rock, but maybe stick to the main cities, and spend money. That’s going to be a part of our healing and economic recovery.”
Tourism is cyclical in the mountains, says Jackson, with an important measuring stick on the horizon for the community.
“Ski season is a finish line we hope we can get to,” adds Jackson. “Maybe by the time winter rolls around we will all feel like a community that can welcome people in a way they are used to.” Jackson says people in the mountains are resilient and appreciative of the help they’ve received. Business people talk of the many area codes they see from people buying gift cards to support the area. “It’s clear people have a passion for this place and not just Boone, but all of western North Carolina,” says Jackson. “The hospitality that the mountains of North Carolina have provided for decades has been paid back to us in one of our greatest times of need and we’re not going to forget that.”
Jackson was speaking about recovery on the same day news broke that the Small Business Administration had run out of money for the disaster assistance loans it offers businesses, homeowners and renters. That could delay relief unless Congress appropriates more money. Other programs exist, such as the Federal Emergency Management Agency, or FEMA, but the SBA news was like a kick in the gut,
says Jackson.
“We need to get politics out of disaster relief,” he says. Business people are already going to struggle if they have to take on new loans while they risk recovery efforts could stall.
Closer to home, Jackson says that community banks are working with customers, helping them in a multitude of ways. Utilities Blue Ridge Energy and New River Light and Power have also reached to support people struggling to pay their bills.
“The spirit of helping, generosity and kindness has been there,” says Jackson. ■