ASHEVILLE, N.C. — Everybody sheltering at A-B Tech had a story to tell Monday about surviving Hurricane Helene.
Three days after a massive storm swamped this landlocked city, the shelter at Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College, known locally as A-B Tech, was at capacity with 149 people, including many families, facing an uncertain future together.
“This was shocking to everybody,” said James Yulon Ferguson, 52, whose trailer in the nearby community of Swannanoa is now underwater.
Ferguson said he had received the warning that Helene was headed toward Asheville, but he “didn’t think it was going to be that bad.”
At first, he decided to stay put. But then the storm got a whole lot worse.
“And I said, ‘Oh, Lord, we have to get out of here,’” he said.
Ferguson said a neighbor drove him to higher ground before the low-lying area where they lived was inundated by floodwaters. He said the water came up to the roof of his home and lifted it off its moorings before it slammed into another trailer.
When the waters receded a bit, Ferguson was able to get back to his trailer and salvage some clothes and other items, he said. There's still no power in his neighborhood and people have been using boats to rescue people trapped in their homes.
“It’s down bad,” he said. “It’s scary.”
Ferguson said A-B Tech is the third shelter he’s been in since his home was destroyed. He said he doesn’t know where he will end up next.
Sabrina Ledford, who was forced to flee her home in Asheville's now-inundated River Arts District, said she knew the hurricane was coming from watching TV and is angry that the first warning she got from the city about potential flooding was "after the flooding had started."
"Because we have such a large population that is forced to live outside, I feel like they should have went around and warned people a hurricane was coming," Ledford said.
Bev Nowling, who lives in the West Asheville section of the city, arrived at A-B Tech after a tree crashed through the window of her home Friday. She said she had just taken a bath and was sitting down to dinner when it happened.
Nowling, who lives with a nephew, said when the power went out she knew it was time to go. She said she has medical issues and can’t live without electricity.
No stranger to calamity, Nowling said she was in Florida in 2022 when Hurricane Ian roared through and wrecked her children’s home. She said she knew some people who died in that storm and is thankful that Helene, as bad as it was, wasn’t worse.
“Material stuff can be replaced,” Nowling said. “I just have to start from fresh here.”
But where to start remains the unanswered question.
“I’m kind of at a loss of what to do,” Nowling said.
The feelings of displacement and uncertainty are widespread at A-B Tech, said Karol Chase, a Red Cross disaster program manager who came down from Michigan to set up the shelter.
She said she has provided assistance following 15 other natural disasters across the country over the years.
“You have some people who are upset because they have been displaced,” Chase said. “This is catastrophic.”
But right now, Chase said, the focus is to provide the refugees with the basics — food, drinking water, and a safe and dry place to sleep.
Chase said local community organizations have been able to provide them with the essentials.
“The shelter is still in need of more water, clothing and toiletries,” she said.
What they’ve also run out of, Chase said, is space.
“As somebody checks out, we get somebody else in,” she said. “But most everybody is cooperating. They know it’s going to take everybody working together to make it work. It’s times like this we see the communities come together.”
In downtown Asheville, Abby Moore, general manager of Old Europe Pastries, helped her hungry neighbors get through the ordeal by giving them wedding cake.
"There were a lot of locals that were just devastated, and they were just looking for a bite to eat or anything," Moore said. "We had a bunch of weddings that we were not able to do, obviously, this week and next week.
"And those cakes were already made. So we actually had to cut up all those wedding cakes and gave them away to the people.”
Moore said she and three co-workers rode out the worst of the storm inside the cafe.
“The wind was whipping through here at an alarming pace, but this building is completely brand new and basically all concrete so we knew that we were safe," Moore said. "After that, the rest of the day was chaos, absolute chaos, but not in a bad way, a good way for us. People saw that we were open and they were able to come in.”
Minyvonne Burke reported from Asheville, North Carolina, and Corky Siemaszko from New York City.
