Hurricane Helene devastated much of western North Carolina like no other storm in recent history.
Rain poured down the mountains, acting like a funnel to the already-swollen streams and creeks feeding into the Broad, Toe and Swannanoa Rivers. The red clay soil, already saturated with water from three days’ rain, quickly turned to scarlet soup, oozing into landslides and taking banks, forests and buildings with it. High winds ripped trees from the watery ground, sending them crashing onto roofs and power lines.
Pavements and roadways cracked like eggshells. The rivers, fat with water and mud, rose in minutes. Flash floods swept away bridges, trees and houses, with some residents waking up to find water lapping next to their beds. For many people living in North Carolina, evacuation orders came too late as they scrambled to their roofs with only the clothes on their backs, their children in blankets and pets in their arms.
The losses were catastrophic. Over 200 people lost their lives, with Buncombe County – home to Asheville, Black Mountain and Swannanoa – accounting for nearly half of those dead in the state. Over 100,000 homes were destroyed or badly damaged by the storm, leaving thousands homeless or without power in the rapidly cooling months.
Even now, nearly three months after the storm, North Carolina residents are still slowly picking up the pieces from the storm as they struggle to recover their homes and their businesses.
Decades of work washed away in minutes
Laura Rathbone, manager of the Olde World Christmas Shoppe in Biltmore Village, Asheville, woke up at 6 a.m. on the morning of Helene hitting North Carolina feeling relieved.
“They were broadcasting news from our square here in the village,” she said. “I called the owner and his daughter and said, we don’t have any water in the shop.”
Just hours later, however, the tides turned. The French Broad River viciously swelled from its banks, dumping water and thick silt into the historic Biltmore Village. By that point, it was too hazardous to navigate the water-choked roadways, so all Rathbone could do was watch the water rise.
The flood receded five days later, leaving behind a scene of devastation.
“We couldn’t get in that day because the doors had swollen up,” Rathbone said. “We could look in the windows and see that we just lost everything on that lower floor.”
Water had come nine feet into the store, leaving behind several inches of thick and toxic mud. Glass cases lay overturned, and the festive Christmas products the Olde World Christmas Shoppe was known for had already begun to grow mold.
Further west, Larry Smith, owner of Christmas tree farm Mountain Top Fraser Fir in Newland, had moved his tree harvesting equipment to higher ground before the storm.
However, nobody could have predicted the Niagara Falls-force water that came blasting down the mountain and through the Appalachian hollers. Oaks and pines snapped like toothpicks, pulling down power lines, while mudslides and building-sized boulders took out roads in seconds.
“In some places, it looks like a tsunami, Smith said. “Its just, you know, took all the trees and everything out,” Smith said.
Smith lost harvesting equipment that hadn’t been moved, as well as a barn that had been built by his grandfather. Floods also claimed trees on lower ground and the family’s entire crop of Halloween pumpkins.
“[There were] pumpkins 10 and 15 feet stood up in trees hanging like ornaments,” according to Smith. “I can’t help but laugh at that, I suppose.”
Ruined stock, destroyed buildings, and lost customers
For a seasonal store like the Olde World Christmas Shoppe, the hurricane couldn’t have come at a worse time. The store orders the bulk of its product in the late summer, relying on a flood of sales in the autumn and into winter to cover its bills.
The ruined stock left the store with invoices to pay, and the hazards left behind by the hurricane cut off the essential tourist and shopper pipeline the store relied on in its busy season. Even after Asheville reopened, Biltmore Village was still rebuilding.
“Our building has not been condemned, so we are at a good point there,” Rathbone said. “But our windows have all been scratched, and all of the electrical will have to be moved upstairs, all of the floors and the walls will have to be put back. It’s quite a hefty price tag on this one.”
Western North Carolina’s disaster area status was an extra wrench in many business’ plans. With many official roads being closed to traffic as essential aid poured in, businesses lost foot traffic at the peak of the state’s autumn tourist season.
For business owners, official help is still far
Amidst the destruction of the storm, help has come in patchwork forms. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has supplied some aid in the heavily damaged areas in the form of disaster relief funds and assistance with repairs and cleanup.
Others have relied on nonprofit and volunteer organizations such as Samaritan’s Purse and church groups, especially in the more remote areas of Western North Carolina.
The owner of the Olde World Christmas Shoppe applied for an SBA disaster loan and assistance from FEMA, but no help has come through on those channels, Rathbone said.
The SBA disaster loan program is currently in a tricky place. Funding for the loan program ran out in the month of October. While businesses can still apply for a disaster relief loan, with SBA processing the application as they await funding, business owners in dire need of the loans are currently left in limbo.
Congress finally passed a bill that will refill the SBA’s funding on Dec. 20, 2024 – providing much-needed relief to businesses awaiting their loans after over three months of waiting. However, how long the approval and distribution process will take remains to be determined, as businesses struggle to stay afloat in the wake of the hurricane.
For many business owners, the remote nature of North Carolina’s mountains have put them in a tough spot.
The roads and bridges leading to Smith’s Christmas tree farm in Newland were heavily damaged. With much of the roads still being assessed for damage by FEMA, and with Christmas tree season rapidly approaching, Smith relied on friends and family to clear the roads of debris and dig out the landslides before they could transport this year’s batch of Christmas trees.
“There’s been a lot of church groups and civic groups coming up, bringing supplies and everything, cleaning out basements,” Smith said. “We lost the bridge across the river, so hopefully we may get some help on getting our roads back, but I think that’s all still to be determined.”
Hope from the community
Despite the devastation of the hurricane, communities, organizations and individuals both in and outside of North Carolina have stepped up to help businesses impacted by the hurricane.
For Rathbone and the Olde World Christmas Shoppe, Asheville’s business community stepped in just as the holiday shopping season began.
The Olde World Christmas Shoppe is now open on Asheville’s Wall Street in pop-up form, residing in storefront space offered courtesy of local restaurant Chai Pani.
“They are gifting us retail space until January 4th, free of charge, which is an overwhelming act of kindness to a small business like ours, and especially right now at the Christmas season,” Rathbone said.
The Shoppe’s presence on Wall Street is also part of Miracle on Wall Street, an effort from Asheville’s business community to showcase and give popup space to businesses devastated by the hurricane.
On Sunday Dec. 8, the closed-off street has attracted a healthy crowd even late into the day, with shoppers buying hot chocolate and cider from a stand, admiring jewelry and pottery from local artists, and taking in the festive display at the Shoppe’s pop-up.
“It’s been wonderful,” Rathbone said. “Ashevillians are stepping up and shopping in Asheville, which is fantastic. These outpourings of just love and attention on all of us have been so great to see and that’s what’s getting us through mentally and just all together right now.”
Smith’s family Christmas tree stands in Lenoir, Ballantyne and other locations have been doing brisk business as well.
“There’ve been people that generally had an artificial tree [who are] buying a real tree just to support the community,” Smith said. “That’s put money to help us get a road, to put money back in the communities up there.”
An uncertain future
Unfortunately, as businesses close from the devastation of the hurricane, their communities lose a vital source of income, taxes and services.
“Some people, I don’t know what they were going to do really,” Smith added. “They lost their houses, jobs, vehicles. A lot of those people live from paycheck to paycheck.”
Even with the damage sustained by Smith’s farm, he said his family were much luckier than others.
“I’ve had some friends that do Christmas trees and nursery stuff too, and they’ve lost up to 75 percent of their plants,” Smith said. “Some of them lost a lot of equipment and everything. It’s changed the landscape up there forever.”
Even with the outpouring of support from locals, Rathbone fears for The Olde Worlde Christmas Shoppe’s future – especially as bills from the original building’s cleanup are coming in. While the owner has set up a GoFundMe to help cover some of the costs of cleanup, it may not be enough.
“We don’t know right now if we’ll be able to go back in and be a Christmas shop again,” Rathbone said. “I don’t know that we’ll be able to continue.”
How to help
For businesses recovering from Helene, support will be crucial in the coming months. Shopping small and shopping often – especially after the press dies down – will help.
For those outside of Western North Carolina, buying online from local businesses or even calling in and requesting items can provide much-needed sales.
“We will text you a picture on our phone if we need to, and we will mail it out the next day,” Rathbone said.
Rathbone also encouraged visitors to put Asheville and the surrounding areas on their vacation destination lists, and to help keep the city’s unique mountain charm alive.
“Keep Asheville in your thoughts and in your travel plans,” she said. “This community is going to rely on the small businesses. That makes Asheville so great. So I just really hope people will support all of that community and understand the importance of that, and maybe come to the mountains this year instead of going to the beach.”
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