The Asheville family was evacuated and fears everything will be lost in the flooding in Helene

ASHEVILLE – Kuroe Gray’s first step on the morning of Sept. 27 was straight into ankle-deep water.

The AC Reynolds High School freshman woke up around 8 a.m. to her father yelling for her to get dressed because her house was flooded. Kuroe, 14, didn’t even have time to grab a pair of shoes before boarding a lifeboat, she told Citizen Times on September 27.

When she was evacuated, water was halfway up the family’s front door.

Earlier this week, western North Carolina experienced a “precursor” rainfall event, producing up to 8 inches of rain in many areas. And then on September 26th and 27th, Hurricane Helene, which became a tropical storm, brought even more rain to the already swollen French Broad and Swannanoa rivers. The storm also brought high winds that downed trees and power lines throughout Buncombe County, leaving more than 100,000 Duke Energy customers without power that morning.

On September 27, the French Broad River flooded Lyman Street in Asheville’s River Arts District, flooding the lawn and partially submerging surrounding buildings. That morning, residents stood on the bridge over the river and watched as debris floated away on the rushing water. A flock of pigeons tried to brave the wind but were forced back into a roost under the bridge.

At the River Ridge Apartments in East Asheville, where Kuroe lives with her father, David Gray, 58, and next door to her grandmother, Sharon Gray, 83, the Swannanoa River forced the family to evacuate their homes.

Sharon Gray told Citizen Times that the water that flooded her apartment washed away her wheelchair and walker. When the rescue team transported her, it was so painful that she thought she might die.

“I haven’t run in over a year,” she said. “So there I was, walking, actually walking, to get to the boat.”

Her son David said the family lost almost everything. All he was able to save was the family guinea pig, Brown, his mother’s cat, Ellie, and medication.

And it’s not like the Gray family wasn’t prepared for the storm.

“I prepared for losing power and being able to flush the toilets – I filled up the bathtubs and stocked up on water and food,” David Gray said. “I had portable batteries and camping gear for cooking.”

But how much can a family really prepare for what one county official called a “500-year flood”?

“This morning, as the water got closer and closer, I thought, This looks worse than I thought,” he said. “And before you know it, they probably opened the dam and water started coming in.”

FEMA and National Guard are helping with flood damage

In the early morning hours of September 27, Buncombe County issued a mandatory evacuation order from the North Fork Reservoir, where water was leaking through the spillway, to Biltmore Village on the Swannanoa River.

According to district spokeswoman Lillian Govus, emergency responders working in the region have conducted more than 40 rapid water rescue missions. Additional teams from Illinois, New Jersey and other locations in North Carolina have arrived to support the effort, she said.

An 82-member Federal Emergency Management Agency urban search and rescue team also assisted in the rescue efforts, the city of Asheville said in a news release. The National Guard also provided support.

The Gray family was evacuated from River Ridge and was at Harrah’s Cherokee Center, where the city set up an emergency shelter in the early morning hours of September 27th.

When the Gray family arrived, the rain and wind had stopped. Tourists strolled along Haywood Street, surveying the damage and snapping photos of broken branches covering sidewalks and streets.

Soon the sun came out.

Meanwhile, the Gray family stood in the lobby of Harrah’s, where more than 400 people were evacuated by late afternoon, assuming they had lost everything and wondering what they would do next.

Brown, the guinea pig, was sitting in the family’s Toyota across the street, and David feared he would be towed away. Harrah’s parking garage didn’t have enough driveway space.

For a moment, Ellie the cat seemed to have disappeared. Luckily she was still resting in her carrier next to her owner.

And Kuroe was still barefoot.

More: WNC River Gauges: Flooding at French Broad, Swannanoa; Rivers are still rising

More: Tropical Storm Helene evacuees seek shelter at Harrah’s Cherokee in downtown Asheville

Jacob Biba is the county watchdog reporter for the Asheville Citizen Times. Reach him at [email protected].

The Asheville family was evacuated and fears everything will be lost in the flooding in Helene

ByJasper

FEMA and National Guard are helping with flood damage

By Jasper

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