Blaze News original: Incredible stories of charity and rugged survival in the North Carolina mountains

Hurricane Helene made landfall as a Category 4 storm in the late evening of September 26, carving a path of destruction through several Southeastern states. Small mountain communities in Western North Carolina were among those hardest hit by the hurricane.

High winds and floodwaters left a wake of toppled trees, downed power lines, massive landslides, and washed-out roads.

Though it has been over two weeks since the natural disaster, the full extent of the hurricane's damage is still unclear.

North Carolina authorities reported on October 16 that they had confirmed 95 fatalities across 20 counties, including 42 in Buncombe, 11 in Yancey, and seven in Henderson. Even now, many individuals remain either missing or unaccounted for.

However, in the aftermath of that devastation, a different kind of story unfolded — one of hope in which the bond of community and collective resilience showcased the unbreakable American spirit.

Neighbors and volunteers from all over the country with varying backgrounds and skills quickly rallied together to provide disaster relief to victims of Hurricane Helene. Veterans and current active-duty military members pooled their resources to execute emergency evacuations for those in critical need of medical assistance, while pilots and tour agencies used their personal and business helicopters to fly vital supplies to those living up in the mountains, cut off from the rest of the world.

Undoubtedly, the massive grassroots volunteer effort from everyday citizens that sprouted up overnight in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene saved many lives. Here are just some of their inspirational stories.

Community heroes rescue neighbors in need

Mercury One, a charity founded by Glenn Beck, and Blaze Media were on the ground in Asheville and Swannanoa, North Carolina, the week after Hurricane Helene barreled through the mountainous region.

The team linked up with an all-volunteer group run by veterans and active-duty military members who had set up a forward operating base in a Harley-Davidson dealership. While the storm had also impacted the property, after the water receded, the dealership owner and volunteers cleared out the mud, set up operations inside, and used a large field out back as an airport for helicopters both bringing supplies and delivering them to those in need.

The operation was led by Adam Smith, a former United States Army Green Beret and the founder of Savage Freedoms. In the first several days following the storm, his team coordinated medevacs and search-and-rescue flights for those needing medical assistance who were left stranded due to completely washed-out roads and downed trees and power lines.

Image Source: Blaze Media

Aeroluxe Aviation, a helicopter tour agency based in Nashville, Tennessee, was on-site with the Savage Freedoms team.

The company previously told Blaze News, "We flew almost nonstop sunrise to sunset with our three helicopters on missions delivering medical supplies, insulin, other medications, oxygen, perishable foods, and dry goods."

Back on the ground, the team had an operations manager, Anthony Velasquez, who was "scrubbing social media for people asking for help or looking for loved ones," Aeroluxe Aviation explained.

"He would direct our resources with supplies or wellness checks to those areas in conjunction with Savage Freedoms."

Zach Gibson, an active-duty military member and Asheville native, volunteered to join Smith and his team at the Harley-Davidson dealership turned operating base.

"Being from the area, when everything happened, I just felt the need to go there with some of my friends and help out and do what we can," Gibson told Blaze News.

Image Source: Blaze Media

Gibson explained that in the time he was there, almost a week, he and some other volunteers went to perform a wellness check on a woman who had recently undergone surgery and was scheduled for a second when it was postponed due to the hurricane.

"She was getting an infection, and we didn't want it to go septic," Gibson stated.

A paramedic in the volunteer group made the medical assessment that the woman's life was at risk and she needed to be medevaced out of the area immediately.

"I sent essentially that medical assessment via a text using Starlink, which was absolutely critical in doing any of this," Gibson noted.

Back at the Harley-Davidson dealership, air coordinator Johnny Wilson responded to Gibson's text message, notifying the team that the crew was getting a helicopter ready.

"We were in the middle of the valley in Burnsville," Gibson continued. "Had I not had Starlink mobile in my truck, that conversation would have never happened, and it could have resulted in the death of that lady."

He explained that flying the woman out of the area also presented some challenges.

"There was some obstacles, specifically power lines in the area that prevented the bird from landing. So the bird had to land on the other side of the mountain," Gibson said. "They drove up in a pickup truck to the CASEVAC, casualty evacuation."

'A huge collective effort on just ultimate altruism, just wanting to help out people in need.'

He stated that the team's paramedic "did an excellent handover with the doctor."

The woman was ultimately medevaced out with the doctor.

"I later received confirmation that that had to happen," Gibson added.

Gibson told Blaze News about another wellness check he and his team performed for a family of four who could not leave their home.

"Due to all the roads, the traditional routes that had been washed away, it took us about five or six hours to actually get to this home," he explained. "When we got there, the husband, Rich, wife, Lindsay, and their two kids had been isolated and not trapped inside the home physically, but unable to leave because trees had fallen all around their house."

Gibson stated that the husband was making trips on foot to a barn a few miles away to grab what limited supplies he could carry back for his family.

After Gibson and his team dropped off some much-needed items, they offered to return in the morning with chainsaws to clear the fallen trees blocking the family's exit. He noted that the clearing effort took a few hours, but once completed, the family was able to make their own supply runs again.

He told Blaze News that those rescue efforts were made possible by volunteers.

"So many people in my unit, and then just people I know in my church community and everywhere, started donating money to help us get supplies that we needed to get up there," Gibson added. "It really was a huge collective effort on just ultimate altruism, just wanting to help out people in need."

Gibson noted that it took the helping hands of everyone involved, including a friend who allowed him to use his truck and Gibson's cousin Trip, whose work in the medical sales field provided him with prior knowledge of the routes to determine the best ways to navigate to their destinations.

Neighbors forge a path to recovery

Chris Ripley, a North Carolina farmer, told Blaze News about how his small town in Peace Rock came together around the community barn to rally supplies and coordinate deliveries after working to evacuate a 77-year-old man named Peter, a Vietnam veteran, who had sustained critical injuries during the storm.

Gibson, who met up with Ripley and his community, explained that Peter had walked outside to check the damages to his property after he had heard a loud noise. While outside, Peter was struck in the head by flying debris.

An individual who witnessed the incident immediately contacted other locals to arrange urgent medical care for Peter. The flying debris, which neighbors believe could have been a piece of roof from another home, caused Peter to sustain a broken neck and fractured skull.

Ripley stated that two wilderness first responders happened to live in the area and determined that Peter needed urgent care for his injuries and had an estimated eight hours to live without it.

"We're really blessed with a lot of skilled individuals," Ripley told Blaze News. "They were critical, along with some other naturopath doctors that stabilized him for the hours when we couldn't evacuate him."

Ripley noted that the road was impassable due to floodwaters and the bridge had collapsed. There was no clear path by vehicle, so neighbors spent several hours using chainsaws to clear a route while others carried Peter on a ladder used as a makeshift stretcher.

"We were able to get him out to the hospital just in time to get him stabilized, and he survived and was doing great," Ripley said.

'Even when something of this extreme, terrible nature happens, we're right there for each other.'

After locals successfully saved Peter, they started to use their community barn, which is frequently utilized as a venue for potlucks and movie nights, as a gathering place to check on one another and store supplies.

"We just put a call out to the valley. 'Hey, we're going to meet at noon every day.' And during that first day, when all the community members arrived, we broke off into teams," Ripley stated.

The locals formed several units to cover all of the community's immediate needs, including food, medical, communications, and road-clearing. Out of the community barn, they provided neighbors with propane, gasoline generators, lanterns, and other vital supplies. Ripley explained that part of his role has been donating produce from his farm to the community kitchen.

He stated that Neal Foster, a local who had survived Hurricane Katrina, was an integral part of the community team, offering advice based on his previous experience.

One of the "golden threads" Ripley observed was locals' ability to pool their skills and resources to create a sustainable community center.

"The people that live here have always been self-sufficient, hard workers, and strong individuals. And so having that here makes me very grateful to be living in this community and in this region of the nation," Ripley said. "Even when something of this extreme, terrible nature happens, we're right there for each other."

Ripley told Blaze News that the community hopes to continue to host regular meetings to keep their neighborly connection strong.

Gibson stated that Ripley's community in Peace Rock is "a microcosm for what's going on across Western North Carolina."

"Without them and all the people just to step up to fill gaps and help people, it wouldn't be where it's at so soon after Helene," he added.

A community cut off but not forgotten

Emily Young, the owner of Happy Hens and Highlands Farm and a Yancey County native, described to Blaze News how, after Hurricane Helene devastated the area, she was able to spread the word on social media to reach volunteers and generous donors who ultimately provided her small community with desperately needed vital supplies.

Young, who has already been without power for a couple of weeks, estimated that it could be another two weeks before it is restored.

"I'm not even that far from a main road," Young said. "If it's going to take that long to get power to me, I can't imagine some of these real remote areas, because there's not that much damage to the power lines and stuff where I'm at. There's other places where every single one is snapped, and there's rockslides and all that."

Young explained that she did not expect the storm to be nearly as bad as it was, anticipating that she would be able to host scheduled farm visits that same weekend.

"I didn't stock up on supplies because that stuff doesn't happen here," she remarked.

'Every way out of the town was gone.'

When she woke up on Friday, September 27, she soon noticed that her power was out and her cell phone had stopped receiving a signal. But even then, Young assumed it was a power outage in her immediate area.

"I don't get that great of service anyway," she noted. "I decided to walk down the road to my parents' house. They live just a couple hundred yards from me, and we're separated by a creek."

When she stepped outside, she saw that the road near her home had turned into "a raging river." Young explained that a dam had broken, causing a nearby pond to flood the area and wash out her driveway.

"I was scared to walk, to step into the road, because I was afraid I would get swept away," Young told Blaze News. "My dad was yelling at me to step back."

The rush of water was causing the pavement underneath her feet to begin crumbling, she said.

"I could have easily got swept in there, and I just didn't realize," Young added.

She noted that it took her hours to eventually find a way to reach her parents' home, whose driveway was also washed out, and their entire woodshop was swept into the creek.

Image Source: Emily Young

Young and her parents walked down the road to where she had parked her farm truck, hoping to use that vehicle to head into town.

"We still thought things were going to be open. We thought stores would be open. We thought we could just drive to town and grab a few supplies," she stated.

First, Young and her parents attempted to drive into Burnsville, but they were forced to turn around when they discovered the bridge on the main road, U.S. Route 19E, was under water. They then tried the other direction, hoping to reach Spruce Pine.

Image Source: Emily Young

"Thought we could go to the grocery store, Ingles. We start driving to Ingles, and it's under water," she continued. "The water's up to the marquee."

Young made a final attempt to drive down another road to Marion but was again unsuccessful, stating that "the whole mountain" was "gone" due to a landslide.

"Every way out of the town was gone," Young said, noting that that remained the case for about three days.

Image Source: Emily Young

It was not until the water receded that Young was able to make it to her local fire department. During her first visit, she noted that the department had a few bottles of water and a handful of food but not much else in the way of critical supplies for the community.

Back at her farm, Young had a Starlink, which she decided to bring to the fire station to help first responders coordinate supply deliveries.

Young took to her farm's social media account to request help for her local community. And the response was overwhelming.

A video posted by Young showcased the transformation of the fire department bay. Initially, the warehouse held only a few cases of water and other limited goods, but volunteers and donors soon lined the road outside the department, ready to drop off trucks and trailers brimming with essentials.

‘It was big news for a little while, and then the next thing happened and you forget about these people.’

Scenic Helicopter Tours, a helicopter tour agency, and its pilots volunteered to fly in donations that were dropped off at their location in Tennessee. Within days, the fire department bay exploded with pallets of critically needed items ready to be delivered to residents.

"Y'all are incredible," Young told her social media followers.

"This morning, I posted how few of supplies they had in their warehouse here at the fire department," she continued. "Thanks to y'all just sharing, supplies have been rolling in all day."

Young told Blaze News that her community received the water and food they desperately needed in the first few critical days thanks to locals, volunteers, and those who donated.

"It was just amazing the outpouring of support once I did start showing what was happening in my community," she said.

Now the "big thing is heat," Young remarked.

"It's starting to get really cold now, and so many people are still without power," she stated, adding that she has also shifted more of her focus to rebuilding efforts.

While the hurricane was "a nightmare," Young is thankful that the community came together in the aftermath of the devastation to help one another survive. She explained that many individuals moved to the area in recent years, and there has "kind of been a tension" between them and the locals.

"I feel like this, though, has brought everyone together," Young declared. "It's been an incredible experience."

She said her only fear is that people will forget about the devastation that tore through her community.

"With Maui, we've forgotten about it by now. All these people there, they lost everything," Young told Blaze News. "It was big news for a little while, and then the next thing happened and you forget about these people."

She stated that she and her community are grateful for all of the volunteers who showed up to help with search-and-rescue efforts.

"That part's incredible, but the rebuilding part — that's what we're going to need help with. There's so, so much damage here. I guess I worry, with the election coming up and all this stuff, this is going to be forgotten about really soon," Young said.

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