December 19, 2025 • 33 mins
One year ago, Hurricane Helene tore through Western North Carolina. But the storm didn’t take our spirit. Now, Eddie and Amanda Foxx bring you the voices of neighbors, families and businesses who endured…and rebuilt.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
One year after Helene, the voices of Western North Carolina
share their stories. This is Stories After the Storm with
Eddie Fox and Amanda Fox.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Episode four, Looking Forward.
Speaker 3 (00:15):
One year later. The scars from Hurricane Helene are still here.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
Some you can.
Speaker 3 (00:19):
See, some you can't. But so is something else, progress,
growth and a community that refuses to be defined by
one storm.
Speaker 4 (00:29):
Looking forward doesn't mean forgetting what happened. It means carrying
the lessons with us, the strength we found, the neighbors
who showed up, and the moments that reminded us who
we really are.
Speaker 3 (00:39):
In this final episode, we talk about what comes next,
what Western North Carolina still needs, what's already changed, and
how hope continues to take shape in big ways and
small ones.
Speaker 4 (00:51):
You're going to hear from people who are dreaming again,
planning again, and believing again. Not because the road is easy,
but because this community is strong.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
The storm changed us, but it didn't break us.
Speaker 4 (01:02):
This is episode four Looking Forward.
Speaker 3 (01:05):
So we've had episodes about the storm, We've had episodes
about the aftermath, about rebuilding, and then I think the
next logical step is looking forward and we how we
move into the future. And I don't think there's anyone
who can speak to that better than Zeb Smathers, Mayor
of Canton, law of Biden, law practicing man, this failure
(01:28):
has been through it and always looking forward. Take us
back to Eve before Helene, and when the struggles that
Canton has been through, you have been there through all
of them.
Speaker 2 (01:39):
Yeah, I mean I was, you know, go way back.
I mean, this is home. I'm forty three years old.
Our son stone on both sides, he's ninth generation. I
was lucky to find a girl. Wasn't related to the
Mary true story. But it's home. And I've said this
in speeches other than the words I love you, the
(02:01):
most important word in the English language is home. I agree,
we've all had one, we're all looking for one, and
it's not defined by four walls. It's the people. It's
the setbacks, it's the successes, it's who we are. And
I think people, especially in West North Carolina, you know
it's not like, hey, I live near Asheville, I live
in Kent, I live in Franklin, I live in Spruce Pie.
(02:21):
We're proud of that. We're proud of that. And because
we're products of that, We're products of churches and schools
and coaches, and we all always talk about what's next.
I think a lot of people they stopped the conversation
there and they forget to appreciate the ones that came
before them. All of us are just carrying on tradition
and walking in the paths the ones that came before.
It's trying to make a little better for our kids.
(02:41):
So you know, it's home to me. And you know,
I was elected mayor in twenty seventeen. I know I'm
just forty three years old, but I feel like I'm
sixty seven in mayor years, just because years, you know,
even you know, even now when I got reelected for
four more years a few weeks ago, I feel I
hopefully can be again because to answer your question, I've
(03:02):
not been mayor since twenty nineteen. Because it starts with
COVID for all of us, and how quickly things can change.
And again we're sitting here in the Christmas season, you know,
enjoy the moment. And I think that's something in the
last five years has shown us in West North Carolina
how quickly it can change. From the hurricanes, the mill closure,
to other tragedies. You know, things can change in a
(03:23):
moment that affect you. And so obviously COVID hit for
all of us. Probably one of the proudest moments as
mayor is you know a lot of places understandably, so
they didn't have their Christmas praise like tomorrow we have.
Our Christmas parade was really across from Fourth of July
and Christmas. I mean, we love our Christmas preain, but
a lot of people were canceling. In twenty twenty we
(03:43):
had ours and I think it was our town manager
or someone thought of the idea of let's do a
reverse Christmas parade, So all the floats were downtown and
people drove through. And usually our Christmas parade lasts like
an hour. This one lasts like five and a half
hours because people are so hungry to celebrate and on
and in twenty twenty, that was probably the only Merry
(04:05):
Christmas piece of candy or Santa Claus some of these
kids had. So I think cant in Westwood, Carolina. You
have to find a way to make things happen. That
balance is safety but not giving up your traditions. Then
you had you know, tropicals on Fred which wiped out
you know, half the town. Six people lost their lives.
Then the meal closure, and then Helene and we can
(04:26):
sit here and talk about everything we've been through, and
y'all know it just like the rest of us do.
But to be in a community where people that have
lost everything from loved ones, their businesses, their homes and
they still believe there's better days ahead. Those are the badasses,
Because even on our hardest days, when you're in a
community that people have that resiliency and that grit and
(04:49):
that grace, you just got to keep going. And I
think that's the secret. Some days you know you can
put up, you know, you make it a few steps
more than you thought you would, and some days you
fall back, but you just got to keep going. And
I think that's the story of Western with Carolina, It's
the story of Canton. It's not easy. There's days you
want to quit, but you just find a way to
dig deep and keep going.
Speaker 3 (05:10):
Now, when it comes to Helen, is there a moment
for you that solidified I'm I'm in the right place,
I'm where I need to be. Is there like a
phone call or a person in the community that's something
they did, some little something that probably meant so much
more than what it was. Is there anything that stands
out to you.
Speaker 2 (05:28):
You know, I remember because again I think we sometimes forget,
for like of better words, how scary and maybe weird
when all the communication went out. I mean, I remember
the moment that all of a sudden my cell phone stopped.
Speaker 3 (05:43):
Well, there was icons on my phone that I'd ever seen,
that I even know was on there, that was popping up.
And you know, did not have to be in the
communications business, do not have any form at all on
any level.
Speaker 2 (05:56):
That's probably one of the scariest moments. It was in
the scariest moments. And I think it was scary because
we had an officer that had a starlink before you know,
starlink was cool getting messages across the US ZIP I
don't know who you are. My family lives in Canton
or even Ashville. I can't get hold of them, and
understanding how scared they were because they were watching this
(06:18):
happen as we would watch the news, but we couldn't
communicate with people. But again, in this communication, you saw
people going door to door, you know, without cell phones,
just checking on their neighbor. And again, you know, it
wasn't we live in such a manufactured world of division
where we think everyone's against each other and everyone's got
(06:38):
a you know, an angle or something. The goodness of
people that even without communication, that just rose to the occasion.
There's so many stories of heroics, but I think everyone
that day, even the simplest thing of knocking on your doors,
you know, your your neighbor's door, getting your chainsaw out,
(06:59):
you know. I think everyday heroics is the one thing
that stands out to me. I think everyone has a
story of just watching the best of humanity, and I
think it's something as we go forward. Once you see
that you don't have to accept anything less, you can
demand better. And I think you saw the best of
the Carolinas, you saw the best of the United States
(07:20):
in those days following, and you don't have to just
forget about that. You can say this is what we
want to be. And I think that needs to be
one of our legacies.
Speaker 4 (07:29):
So we've talked about you know, you guys have been
through so much in Canton, Fred the Meal, than Helene
and everything, and so I'm sure that one thing after another,
and so I'm sure there's a lot of people, you know,
that want to pull their businesses out, they want to
leave what when you're faced with those people who are like,
zeb I just can't do this anymore this, you know,
(07:50):
I just want to move away from here. What do
you say to those people?
Speaker 2 (07:53):
You know, I think that's one of the hardest parts,
because you have to look them in the eye and
try to have them believe there's better days ahead when
deep down you don't. I think it's one of those
things that I'm careful of. We're we would tell oh,
come back to West North Carolina. We need people to
come back, and but you know, people get loaded into
the idea that things are really better than they are.
(08:14):
And I think when the season's changed, you still see
those I was up in Lenville this weekend, you know,
looking at I mean the landslides. It's still rough out there.
I think you remind them that we're in this together
and we have each other's backs. I think we forget
how powerful telling someone I love you, I got you back,
(08:35):
and I want to stand here with you and get
this through you and mean it and mean it and
mean God did not put us here to be alone.
And I think we're I think you say I want
I want to go through this together with you, And
I think all of us in different you know, areas
and jobs and whatever. We're all going through this together.
You're not alone. And I think sometimes again in the
(08:56):
modern world, even with social media, the thing that brings
us together, it invertally makes you feel very alone and isolated.
And I think when you're just say hey, you just
reach out and say, look, we're gonna do this together.
I want you to be part of this community. Never
underestimate the power of saying we want you to be
part of something people want that.
Speaker 4 (09:15):
I'm gonna get vulnerable for a minute. So you are Mayor.
You also have your business that's in Canton, and you
have to stay kind of on it. You're busy, busy, busy.
So during Helene, I'm sure it was very just intense.
You're staying busy, you're trying to help others. What was
a moment that was really a whole this happened kind
of it hits you moment.
Speaker 2 (09:35):
It was that One's that's a very good tough question
because it was the second time it happened, you know,
three years ago. You go through this and then say, oh,
this is once in a lifetime, and we made it
three years and the fear because communication was out and
I just the rumors. I mean, I mean when you
(09:57):
would hear and some of them turned out to be true.
Like people said, Jimmy gone, I remember that. It's one said, yeah,
we just heard the chimney rocks gone. I said, what
do you mean gone? Gone? Yeah. You know it's like
something you think you would You're like part of a movie,
and every time you thought you'd, you know, thought you
can't top this, something would happen. And I think just
(10:19):
the the you know, we were downtown Mark Mark's you know,
had me on five am that morning, and so we
were out and we saw this storm coming. But I
remember being downtown and just literally it was in our
Josh Perowski, a head of our street department, we were
in his f two fifty and we had to start
(10:40):
backing up and then the cell phones went out and
the water, I mean there's places that flooded, have never
flooded before.
Speaker 1 (10:46):
Canton.
Speaker 2 (10:48):
I remember the water started going back and I climb
up on a ridge and I look over Canton and
it was a lake. I mean, Helene, you know, streams,
I mean, creeks became streams, Streams became rivers, Rivers became
oceans to look over a major part of your town,
like where Bear Waters is the football stadium and it's
just a lake. It's all underwater, and it's just like
(11:12):
it's something out of a movie, and you're like, how
are we ever going to get back from this? And now, look,
because you find a way. I mean, it's not been
easy and we have a long way to go, but
the idea that we have most of our businesses back open,
we're playing football in the football field. There's successes, but
there's still people out there that can't go to i
(11:34):
mean literally to go to work. They have to go
through a river because their bridge is still washed out. Yeah,
and it's also a balance you talking about successes and
then saying, hey, look there's there's so much money that
we're owed in Washington that we need. I mean I
was up there with a commissioner of ours, you know,
several months ago, and the money's there, it's allocated for us,
and we said, look, we'll put in Duffel bags, briefcases.
(11:56):
I mean, we'll get the money back. I mean at
this point, I'll take gift cards something. And that's frustrating
because the delays, you know, have it, and that's something
I've seen in the last five years is you know, personally,
as mayor, its respect that these people are more than
just numbers on a page or a spreadsheet, and the
(12:18):
delays in funding or when factories close, they're not just numbers.
These are real lives we're dealing with, and these delays
have consequences. And you know, wherever you call home, you
deserve to have had access to anybody else. And that's
been part of this and it's just it was just,
(12:39):
it still remains just a lot. But it's that the
day that I climbed up on the hill and looked
out over Canton and it was basically a lake, there's
just not words.
Speaker 3 (12:48):
I think that when I think resilience, not only do
I think western North Carolina, but in particular I always
think of Heywood County. I'm from Macon County. I feel
like we're kind of neighbors and countries. Yeah, yeah, but
I just the resilience and the strength. Mountain folk are
a special breed of people. I feel one hundred times
(13:08):
since Helene hit I've always known that mountain folk were
capable of this strength, this love, the sense of community,
but to see it in action, I don't know about you,
but that's pretty powerful.
Speaker 2 (13:20):
Stuff, it is. And there there was moments I just
broke down because of goodness, because you know, one thing
that haunts me and that's why you know, I appreciate
doing things just like this. And throughout all of this,
I'll never be able to say thank you to all
the people that had our back, that donated food, sit
(13:41):
a check, sit a prayer. Always there's probably a little
girl somewhere in Roxburgh, North Carolina that said a prayer
to us. I'll never know, but that got us through.
And I think that is something that weighs on me.
But I think that what you see here in West
North Carolina is that we want to not just fix
our backyard cards. We want to advocate for better systems
(14:02):
because we know the next storm's coming. And I know
this because again in twenty one, we made it three years.
And that's a worry of me. You know, it's you
know what's what's coming next. But that resiliency and just
good old fashioned, just toughness. And I don't think sometimes
and I may get in trouble for this. In marsh society,
(14:23):
we sort of don't want to talk about the importance
is being tough. Things go bad. Every single life has
tragedy and setbacks and you've got to put a brave
face on. But never underestimate the power of just committing
to being tough and just to keep again, to keep going.
Speaker 3 (14:41):
It makes you stronger and it helps you move forward.
And I appreciate you and everything that you have done.
We are it's good to be us to know you, sir, well,
you are good people. You are a good mountain folk,
and we just we appreciate everything that you do.
Speaker 2 (14:53):
Well part, But I'm just part of a good team.
And I think of just not the you know, the town,
incount government you know may have Democrats and Republicans, but
the community, we're all just part of a team. And
y'all have talked about over and over again it's a family.
And you're not always going to agree with your family. Heck,
you can get that gun fistfights, but there is something
(15:16):
special about West North Carolina. And as long as we're
in a community like we are that talks about going
forward but honors tradition and you know, the things that
matter and that are sincere and substance, we're gonna be okay.
It may not be perfect, it may take a while,
but we're we're a special place and special family and
(15:40):
y'all are members of it. And again y'all have had
our backs because it's important there. People need things to
put a smile on their face to encourage them to
keep going. You need things like that and you are
part of that.
Speaker 3 (15:55):
Well, zeb Smathers, thank you for sharing your story. Thank
you for your time, sir, absolutely well, this episode is
looking forward. And these these two gentlemen right here, I
think from start to finish, the the the road that
we've traveled down with these guys has led to definitely
looking forward to bigger.
Speaker 2 (16:14):
And brighter and more beautiful things. Y'all.
Speaker 3 (16:17):
Please welcome, thank Spencer Mark Starling to the final episode
of After the Storm. So for you, guys, when you
when you look forward to what what the future holds
for Western North Carolina, what what stands out.
Speaker 2 (16:32):
To you the most? What what do you? What do
you the first thing that comes in your mind?
Speaker 5 (16:35):
I think the first thing for me that comes to
my mind is how much destruction there was, like in
the River Arts District, but how far the River Arts
District has come. Right, We just had the big announcement
about the salvage station reopening right in that old in
that old factory, the old cardboard factory, or the old
paper recycling factory, like you know, that to me is
(16:59):
a giant leap from where I think we all thought
the River Arts District was going to be. I mean,
I was pretty certain that there was going to be
a no build order. They were going to put down
grass everywhere, and that was going to be the end
of it. But to me, that's one of the ones
that sticks out to me between that and I would say,
like where Swannaoah has come in this short amount of time.
(17:20):
I mean, it really has been a short amount of time.
Speaker 6 (17:22):
Yeah, thank Making sure that everybody, I mean, I think
we have to, you know, as a community, keep the
pressure on to make sure that everybody who is still hurting,
everybody who still has you know, out outstanding bills and
stuff from all of the damage and the recovery and stuff.
We have to keep the pressure as a community on
(17:44):
the federal government to make sure that we're getting all
of the FEMA money that we can. I mean, there
are still people who are up in the air about
what they're going to do with their properties. You know,
my sister lost her house in Clyde, and we're now
how far into this scenario and there still is no
(18:04):
answer from FEMA or insurance companies or anything about what
the future of that property can be. And I think
that's the important thing, is making sure that we become
as whole as possible.
Speaker 5 (18:20):
I think there's two storms that you're talking about. I
think there was the physical storm of Hurricane Helen or
tropical Storm Heleene and all of the damage it did,
And now I think you're looking at the bureaucratic storm, right,
You're looking at all of the bureau red tape that's
got to be cut through in order to get building
projects done, in order to get infrastructure back to where
(18:41):
it needs to be. Like, that's kind of a war
in itself because it's never ending, right, I mean, it's
something that kind of, like Tank said, our job now
is so different than what it was during the storm,
because now our job is to reach out to the
state auditor or the state treasurer or any of these
all verses or entities and put the pressure on them
(19:02):
to say, hey, here's the situation that we've been informed of.
Your office is in charge of this, how do we
get resolution. How do we make that work, how do
we make that better for people? And I think that's
really the big challenge right now, right because there's a
lot of people, like the private bridge thing is still
a really big challenge right now. You know a lot
(19:24):
of people say, oh, that's dot. Well, a lot of
those bridges were dot. But a lot of those bridges
were private bridges. And let's be honest, folks in this area,
they don't necessarily have one hundred thousand dollars sitting around
to put a new bridge up. So I think now
is the time for us to start finding solutions to
some of these problems. And you start to find organizations
(19:45):
like you know, Precision Grading and some of these folks
who have really ever since the storm left, they've still
been out there doing this and still trying to make
it so that if someone doesn't have the money to
get something done, they can get it done.
Speaker 2 (19:57):
And I think that's.
Speaker 5 (19:57):
Really where the rebuilding comes. The rebuilding comes from from
all of us and kind of sticking together the same
way we did twenty four hours after the storm.
Speaker 4 (20:06):
So through everything, like on a personal side, you know,
being here through the storm, everything that came after, even
now still seeing so many people struggle. What helps you,
guys stay like optimistic and hopeful?
Speaker 2 (20:18):
Therapy?
Speaker 5 (20:19):
I wish I was kidding, but in a sense I'm not,
But yeah, no, I think it is. I think you
see the stories, right, you see the stories of people overcoming,
and business is overcoming and reopening and things like that.
I mean, I think for me, that's that's the big
one for me personally.
Speaker 6 (20:35):
For me, it's hard to find hope after a disaster.
I mean, it's hard to look around at your surroundings
and know that everything's different and know that nothing that
not everything is going to be the same as it was.
And I mean I drive around and I drive through
(20:57):
Swanna Noah, and I drive over the bow and Ridge
and drive down by the river, and you can still
just feel kind of this I don't know, emptiness everywhere exactly.
Speaker 2 (21:11):
There is a reminder I mean a level.
Speaker 6 (21:13):
I mean, have you ever driven You drive I forty
past Old Fort Mountain and you go that way the
damage that was done out there that you can just
see from the interstate and it's just a mile long
of just devastation, right, and there's nothing there. You can
tell there were things there before, but there's I don't know,
(21:36):
it's I guess therapy would be a good thing. I've been,
I've been, people have recommended to me several times maybe
we should maybe we should go into therapy and talk
about these things and try to find the hope. I mean,
it's hard, but as as Mark said, it is those
those stories of the success stories of the businesses coming
back and people find in new places where they you know,
(22:00):
they were destroyed before.
Speaker 2 (22:01):
And it's it's.
Speaker 6 (22:03):
Hard to find hope right now, and you gotta we
gotta lean on each other.
Speaker 4 (22:06):
Yeah. Sure.
Speaker 5 (22:07):
I think one of the other big signs, probably for
all of us, is to see the success that some
people have been able to have because of the grit
and the determination that they had, right And I look
at guys like Kolie and the Voice from the Chainsaw Brothers, right,
all they wanted to do was help, and that's what
(22:28):
they did for like weeks and weeks and weeks and weeks, right,
They ran off donations and then all of a sudden
this thing happened and it was like, hey, we're really
good at this, we should do this. And the next
thing you know, a business is born and lives were changed. Now,
granted it was born out of a tragedy, but so
were so many other things, right, And so I think
(22:48):
you look at you look at the things that have
that have been very organic to come about, Valley Strong
disaster relief and all the work that they're doing. And
you know, Jason ward and is kind of how tenacious
he has been with helping people find what they need
and getting people the resources that they need. You know,
I think all of that is a sign of success
(23:09):
for our area, right. I mean, heck, I've got I've
got the chainsaw Brothers at my house today taking down
a sixty foot holm tree, right. So, you know, you see,
you see what the storm, You see the scars that
the storm left, but you also see the new life
that's being kind of breathed into our area. And you
kind of have to take take account of both of those.
(23:32):
It can't be all good or all bad. It can
be a little bit of both. And I think that's
where we are at right now.
Speaker 3 (23:37):
I mean two part question for both of you as
we wrap up the final episode here. In the days
right after the storm, what were you looking forward to most?
And now what are you looking forward to the most?
Speaker 5 (23:53):
In the Wow, that's so I can't even look at
a chili dog the same way, because until you've been
trapped in a radio station for four days with nothing
but chili dogs, you really can't. Like, I think, for me,
it's those small things that like, you know, I missed coffee,
Like we when the water went out, it never even
(24:16):
came into harmonds and I was like, oh, I'll go
make a.
Speaker 2 (24:18):
Pot of coffee.
Speaker 5 (24:19):
Yeah, and I'll look at me and I was like,
we're gonna have to chew grounds because we don't have
anything to.
Speaker 2 (24:23):
Make affy with.
Speaker 5 (24:25):
You know what, Now, I look, I think what I
look forward to the most is just the calm, Right.
I look forward and this is going to sound horrible,
but I look kind of forward to the day that
I go all the way through the day and the
storm never comes up. A mundane day, Yeah, like a
day where you know, because I mean a lot of
times we'll run into people out in public or wherever
(24:47):
and they'll say and everybody, and fairly enough, they want
to tell you their storm story. And there's I mean,
there is something cathartic about that, But then there is
also something that's like.
Speaker 3 (24:57):
It's ironic you bring up because a man did not
talk about at daily about it. It's it's you just
you can't hide from nothing.
Speaker 2 (25:03):
We want to hide from it.
Speaker 3 (25:04):
No, we embrace it and we love those stories. But
it's yeah, if if we could ever get back to that,
that that kind of normal, right, that'd be okay.
Speaker 5 (25:13):
I have to think this is the same thing that
the people in New Orleans went through after Katrina, Right,
this is the same feeling of you know, you drive
down this street and it's fine, make a right hand
turn or a left hand turn, and there's a really
bad reminder of it for you, right. I mean, I
know for us in Black Mountain, we've still got a
house that is up on its end in halfway down
(25:34):
in the ditch and the other end stick it up,
and it's kind of like you keep wondering, when is
that When is that scar going to be taken away?
Speaker 2 (25:40):
And does it ever really go away? Once that house
is gone?
Speaker 5 (25:44):
Now it's like, okay, well I remember there was something reliving.
Speaker 4 (25:47):
That's how it is for me when I drive by
O'Reilly's and all that on Riverside Drive, you know, wood
Fin because that was the kind of first thing that
we saw, you know that first morning that we came in,
and that's my home, you know, that's where I grew
up in Woodfin. So every time I drive by there,
it still kind of looks the same in areas and
some are rebuilding, but it always takes me back to
that that first day, and.
Speaker 3 (26:07):
I say, we want to forget at all, right, but Tank,
what about you? What the days after?
Speaker 6 (26:12):
And then now, uh, the days after. I mean, I
was just really looking forward to a cheeseburger.
Speaker 3 (26:20):
The simple thing again, the simple thing you just don't realize.
I mean, flipping a switch as you walk into the room,
a faucet, it's the.
Speaker 2 (26:30):
Little one is start by milk.
Speaker 3 (26:31):
I mean, just I mean mundane, just I don't want
to say stupid, but just boring, everyday things.
Speaker 2 (26:37):
That all of a sudden we take for granted. Oh
my gosh, you.
Speaker 6 (26:40):
Just wanted you just wanted some sense of normalcy. And
then one day I left here and I'm driving and
you know, the family was staying here because this was
the only place that had power, so they would come
up here during the day. And we drove home that
evening and the Shell gas station on Hendersonville Road, right
(27:03):
at Heywood Road, the folks that run the restaurant in
there had set up outside and they were cooking hamburgers
and stuff, and we stood in a parking lot and
I paid eight dollars for a hamburger.
Speaker 2 (27:19):
Yeah no, I mean it was the greatest sense of normal.
You remember those old victories though, because that's what they were.
Oh yeah.
Speaker 5 (27:27):
I think the one victory that really stood out to
me was walking like there was I could hear someone
knocking at the side door, and I don't know, this
was maybe three or four days afterwards, and I can
hear someone knocking at the side door, and I walked
over there and I think, I think you and you
and you two were still on the air. Well, you
three were still on the air together. And I walked
over the door and there's a guy and his wife
(27:49):
standing there, and for the love for me, I cannot
remember their names, but they were standing there with this
box and they had forty five Arby's roast.
Speaker 2 (27:58):
Beef sandwich was in his bag.
Speaker 1 (28:00):
Those I remember.
Speaker 2 (28:02):
Jeremy Green and I liked last one. Like yesterday, Jeremy
Green and I.
Speaker 5 (28:06):
Would walk in the building each day and we look
at each other and go, how many sandwiches you eat?
I'd be like, I'm up to six today, Jeremy still
eighteen left.
Speaker 4 (28:13):
But we didn't even care if they've been sitting out.
Speaker 5 (28:15):
You just wanted something that wasn't like add water and
stir right.
Speaker 2 (28:19):
I mean, yeah, you know.
Speaker 5 (28:21):
And I think the memories of people showing up, like
when Jessica Jessica Manley got here and she's like, guys,
I know you haven't had any food, and she's like,
I made you the last thing that we had in
the cabinets and it was like we'd been eating chili
dogs for three days and she walks in with rice
and beans.
Speaker 2 (28:35):
I'm like, I just can't do it. I can't do
any more.
Speaker 5 (28:39):
Start just like but like when you guys showed up,
like we knew, we knew via phone that you guys
were okay right before you got just before you got there,
but then to see you guys walk in and it
was like, okay, there's a like here's here's four more
degrees of normalcy that are now the building. And then
(29:00):
Josh got here and and everybody else kind of started
getting here. And I think that was probably the first
time that Tank and I looked at each other and
were like, I think we can exhale now right right,
And and so for us to see all of you
guys arrive, that was like a big slap of normalcy
for us of like okay, like we got help now,
like this is everything changes from here moving forward, like
(29:23):
we've got help and we know what we've got to do.
So I think that you know, that sticks out the
relationships in this building stick out a lot more now
after all of this.
Speaker 2 (29:34):
I think for us looking forward, we.
Speaker 3 (29:37):
I'm just it's good to know that if anything like
this happens again, that we will go through this together.
And when I say I mean mountain folk. So looking
forward to having support, the love of the sense of
community that that to me means everything.
Speaker 4 (29:51):
And this team, like I don't think that with different
people we would have done our job, but I feel
like we all are just such a family anyway. Yeah,
we have our moments where we don't like each other
like any other family, but we were able to just
be a family together. I mean it was a job
and we were working, but we were all checking on
each other and here together and that meant a lot
(30:11):
to me.
Speaker 5 (30:12):
Well, and I think, like what you said, if any
one member of our team had been different. This doesn't
play out the way that it did. It didn't sound
the way that it did. It didn't it wouldn't have
come across the way that it did. And I think
what was so interesting was that every single person on
our iHeart team, their vested interest was getting the community
(30:35):
through this. It wasn't I've got my own problems to
deal with. It was set that stuff to the side,
and let's get everybody else through all of this, and
then we'll get each other through what we need to
get each other through.
Speaker 4 (30:47):
Well, we love I think we all love this community
so much because we were born and raised here, but
also how much this community supports and loves us. Like
any moment, everybody in this community steps up to show
us love. Whether it's baby's marriages, you know you're going
through a hard time, yeah, So to just have them
be here with us and to know that we could
help them in some way, that's what kept me going
(31:08):
every day.
Speaker 2 (31:09):
And I mean, look, we got the key to the
town of ken I mean, I was gonna be bigger.
Speaker 4 (31:14):
The bigger, But if you do not stop hard time, I.
Speaker 2 (31:20):
Think I could pick more locks with a toothpick. But
that's Okay, it's still an honor.
Speaker 5 (31:26):
I just think that everybody, you know, everybody takes something
different away from this, right, Like, your guys experience was
so totally different than our experience, and Josh and Ariel
had such a totally different experience. What was interesting was
I don't think we all really learned what each other
had gone through until well after the story.
Speaker 3 (31:44):
But at the same time it was the same, it
was different. So, I mean, there's nobody I would rather
experience if I wish it hadn't happened at all, but
to experience it with you guys, it was truly an
honor and we cannot thank you enough. Thank you Mark
for your story and sharing the experience and just being
there for this community.
Speaker 5 (32:03):
Well in this podcast it means something, right, It means
something to.
Speaker 2 (32:05):
People, we hope, so and I think.
Speaker 5 (32:07):
Well, I think things like this helped bring closure, right,
They helped people process what they went through and realize
that like, oh, I'm not by myself, there's like half
a million other people here with.
Speaker 2 (32:18):
Me, right though. Absolutelyness, thank y'all, we love you, Thank you, Yes, sir.
Speaker 4 (32:22):
When we started this series, we didn't really know exactly
how it would fail. To tell these stories. We knew
they mattered because this wasn't history. It was our lives,
our neighbors, our home.
Speaker 3 (32:32):
Over the past four episodes, we've heard about fear and loss,
but we've also heard about courage, about people who stood
up when everything around them fell apart, about a community
that refused to let the storm have the final word.
Speaker 4 (32:45):
These stories don't belong to us. They belonged to every
family who opened their door, every volunteer who showed up
without being asked, and every small business that unlocked again
even when it was hard.
Speaker 3 (32:56):
Western North Carolina didn't just survive Hurricane Helen. We should
the world what resilience really looks like. Not loud, not flashy,
but steady, kind and unbreakable.
Speaker 4 (33:06):
And as we look ahead, we carry these voices with
us because recovery doesn't end when the cleanup does, healing
doesn't follow a timeline, and hope, real hope, is built
day by day.
Speaker 3 (33:17):
So if you're listening and you were a part of
this story, thank you. If you shared your story with us,
thank you. And if you're still rebuilding, just know this
you ain't.
Speaker 4 (33:26):
Alone from our family to years from these mountains we
call home. Thank you. For listening, remembering and believing
One year after Helene, the voices of Western North Carolina
share their stories. This is Stories After the Storm with
Eddie Fox and Amanda Fox.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Episode four, Looking Forward.
Speaker 3 (00:15):
One year later. The scars from Hurricane Helene are still here.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
Some you can.
Speaker 3 (00:19):
See, some you can't. But so is something else, progress,
growth and a community that refuses to be defined by
one storm.
Speaker 4 (00:29):
Looking forward doesn't mean forgetting what happened. It means carrying
the lessons with us, the strength we found, the neighbors
who showed up, and the moments that reminded us who
we really are.
Speaker 3 (00:39):
In this final episode, we talk about what comes next,
what Western North Carolina still needs, what's already changed, and
how hope continues to take shape in big ways and
small ones.
Speaker 4 (00:51):
You're going to hear from people who are dreaming again,
planning again, and believing again. Not because the road is easy,
but because this community is strong.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
The storm changed us, but it didn't break us.
Speaker 4 (01:02):
This is episode four Looking Forward.
Speaker 3 (01:05):
So we've had episodes about the storm, We've had episodes
about the aftermath, about rebuilding, and then I think the
next logical step is looking forward and we how we
move into the future. And I don't think there's anyone
who can speak to that better than Zeb Smathers, Mayor
of Canton, law of Biden, law practicing man, this failure
(01:28):
has been through it and always looking forward. Take us
back to Eve before Helene, and when the struggles that
Canton has been through, you have been there through all
of them.
Speaker 2 (01:39):
Yeah, I mean I was, you know, go way back.
I mean, this is home. I'm forty three years old.
Our son stone on both sides, he's ninth generation. I
was lucky to find a girl. Wasn't related to the
Mary true story. But it's home. And I've said this
in speeches other than the words I love you, the
(02:01):
most important word in the English language is home. I agree,
we've all had one, we're all looking for one, and
it's not defined by four walls. It's the people. It's
the setbacks, it's the successes, it's who we are. And
I think people, especially in West North Carolina, you know
it's not like, hey, I live near Asheville, I live
in Kent, I live in Franklin, I live in Spruce Pie.
(02:21):
We're proud of that. We're proud of that. And because
we're products of that, We're products of churches and schools
and coaches, and we all always talk about what's next.
I think a lot of people they stopped the conversation
there and they forget to appreciate the ones that came
before them. All of us are just carrying on tradition
and walking in the paths the ones that came before.
It's trying to make a little better for our kids.
(02:41):
So you know, it's home to me. And you know,
I was elected mayor in twenty seventeen. I know I'm
just forty three years old, but I feel like I'm
sixty seven in mayor years, just because years, you know,
even you know, even now when I got reelected for
four more years a few weeks ago, I feel I
hopefully can be again because to answer your question, I've
(03:02):
not been mayor since twenty nineteen. Because it starts with
COVID for all of us, and how quickly things can change.
And again we're sitting here in the Christmas season, you know,
enjoy the moment. And I think that's something in the
last five years has shown us in West North Carolina
how quickly it can change. From the hurricanes, the mill closure,
to other tragedies. You know, things can change in a
(03:23):
moment that affect you. And so obviously COVID hit for
all of us. Probably one of the proudest moments as
mayor is you know a lot of places understandably, so
they didn't have their Christmas praise like tomorrow we have.
Our Christmas parade was really across from Fourth of July
and Christmas. I mean, we love our Christmas preain, but
a lot of people were canceling. In twenty twenty we
(03:43):
had ours and I think it was our town manager
or someone thought of the idea of let's do a
reverse Christmas parade, So all the floats were downtown and
people drove through. And usually our Christmas parade lasts like
an hour. This one lasts like five and a half
hours because people are so hungry to celebrate and on
and in twenty twenty, that was probably the only Merry
(04:05):
Christmas piece of candy or Santa Claus some of these
kids had. So I think cant in Westwood, Carolina. You
have to find a way to make things happen. That
balance is safety but not giving up your traditions. Then
you had you know, tropicals on Fred which wiped out
you know, half the town. Six people lost their lives.
Then the meal closure, and then Helene and we can
(04:26):
sit here and talk about everything we've been through, and
y'all know it just like the rest of us do.
But to be in a community where people that have
lost everything from loved ones, their businesses, their homes and
they still believe there's better days ahead. Those are the badasses,
Because even on our hardest days, when you're in a
community that people have that resiliency and that grit and
(04:49):
that grace, you just got to keep going. And I
think that's the secret. Some days you know you can
put up, you know, you make it a few steps
more than you thought you would, and some days you
fall back, but you just got to keep going. And
I think that's the story of Western with Carolina, It's
the story of Canton. It's not easy. There's days you
want to quit, but you just find a way to
dig deep and keep going.
Speaker 3 (05:10):
Now, when it comes to Helen, is there a moment
for you that solidified I'm I'm in the right place,
I'm where I need to be. Is there like a
phone call or a person in the community that's something
they did, some little something that probably meant so much
more than what it was. Is there anything that stands
out to you.
Speaker 2 (05:28):
You know, I remember because again I think we sometimes forget,
for like of better words, how scary and maybe weird
when all the communication went out. I mean, I remember
the moment that all of a sudden my cell phone stopped.
Speaker 3 (05:43):
Well, there was icons on my phone that I'd ever seen,
that I even know was on there, that was popping up.
And you know, did not have to be in the
communications business, do not have any form at all on
any level.
Speaker 2 (05:56):
That's probably one of the scariest moments. It was in
the scariest moments. And I think it was scary because
we had an officer that had a starlink before you know,
starlink was cool getting messages across the US ZIP I
don't know who you are. My family lives in Canton
or even Ashville. I can't get hold of them, and
understanding how scared they were because they were watching this
(06:18):
happen as we would watch the news, but we couldn't
communicate with people. But again, in this communication, you saw
people going door to door, you know, without cell phones,
just checking on their neighbor. And again, you know, it
wasn't we live in such a manufactured world of division
where we think everyone's against each other and everyone's got
(06:38):
a you know, an angle or something. The goodness of
people that even without communication, that just rose to the occasion.
There's so many stories of heroics, but I think everyone
that day, even the simplest thing of knocking on your doors,
you know, your your neighbor's door, getting your chainsaw out,
(06:59):
you know. I think everyday heroics is the one thing
that stands out to me. I think everyone has a
story of just watching the best of humanity, and I
think it's something as we go forward. Once you see
that you don't have to accept anything less, you can
demand better. And I think you saw the best of
the Carolinas, you saw the best of the United States
(07:20):
in those days following, and you don't have to just
forget about that. You can say this is what we
want to be. And I think that needs to be
one of our legacies.
Speaker 4 (07:29):
So we've talked about you know, you guys have been
through so much in Canton, Fred the Meal, than Helene
and everything, and so I'm sure that one thing after another,
and so I'm sure there's a lot of people, you know,
that want to pull their businesses out, they want to
leave what when you're faced with those people who are like,
zeb I just can't do this anymore this, you know,
(07:50):
I just want to move away from here. What do
you say to those people?
Speaker 2 (07:53):
You know, I think that's one of the hardest parts,
because you have to look them in the eye and
try to have them believe there's better days ahead when
deep down you don't. I think it's one of those
things that I'm careful of. We're we would tell oh,
come back to West North Carolina. We need people to
come back, and but you know, people get loaded into
the idea that things are really better than they are.
(08:14):
And I think when the season's changed, you still see
those I was up in Lenville this weekend, you know,
looking at I mean the landslides. It's still rough out there.
I think you remind them that we're in this together
and we have each other's backs. I think we forget
how powerful telling someone I love you, I got you back,
(08:35):
and I want to stand here with you and get
this through you and mean it and mean it and
mean God did not put us here to be alone.
And I think we're I think you say I want
I want to go through this together with you, And
I think all of us in different you know, areas
and jobs and whatever. We're all going through this together.
You're not alone. And I think sometimes again in the
(08:56):
modern world, even with social media, the thing that brings
us together, it invertally makes you feel very alone and isolated.
And I think when you're just say hey, you just
reach out and say, look, we're gonna do this together.
I want you to be part of this community. Never
underestimate the power of saying we want you to be
part of something people want that.
Speaker 4 (09:15):
I'm gonna get vulnerable for a minute. So you are Mayor.
You also have your business that's in Canton, and you
have to stay kind of on it. You're busy, busy, busy.
So during Helene, I'm sure it was very just intense.
You're staying busy, you're trying to help others. What was
a moment that was really a whole this happened kind
of it hits you moment.
Speaker 2 (09:35):
It was that One's that's a very good tough question
because it was the second time it happened, you know,
three years ago. You go through this and then say, oh,
this is once in a lifetime, and we made it
three years and the fear because communication was out and
I just the rumors. I mean, I mean when you
(09:57):
would hear and some of them turned out to be true.
Like people said, Jimmy gone, I remember that. It's one said, yeah,
we just heard the chimney rocks gone. I said, what
do you mean gone? Gone? Yeah. You know it's like
something you think you would You're like part of a movie,
and every time you thought you'd, you know, thought you
can't top this, something would happen. And I think just
(10:19):
the the you know, we were downtown Mark Mark's you know,
had me on five am that morning, and so we
were out and we saw this storm coming. But I
remember being downtown and just literally it was in our
Josh Perowski, a head of our street department, we were
in his f two fifty and we had to start
(10:40):
backing up and then the cell phones went out and
the water, I mean there's places that flooded, have never
flooded before.
Speaker 1 (10:46):
Canton.
Speaker 2 (10:48):
I remember the water started going back and I climb
up on a ridge and I look over Canton and
it was a lake. I mean, Helene, you know, streams,
I mean, creeks became streams, Streams became rivers, Rivers became
oceans to look over a major part of your town,
like where Bear Waters is the football stadium and it's
just a lake. It's all underwater, and it's just like
(11:12):
it's something out of a movie, and you're like, how
are we ever going to get back from this? And now, look,
because you find a way. I mean, it's not been
easy and we have a long way to go, but
the idea that we have most of our businesses back open,
we're playing football in the football field. There's successes, but
there's still people out there that can't go to i
(11:34):
mean literally to go to work. They have to go
through a river because their bridge is still washed out. Yeah,
and it's also a balance you talking about successes and
then saying, hey, look there's there's so much money that
we're owed in Washington that we need. I mean I
was up there with a commissioner of ours, you know,
several months ago, and the money's there, it's allocated for us,
and we said, look, we'll put in Duffel bags, briefcases.
(11:56):
I mean, we'll get the money back. I mean at
this point, I'll take gift cards something. And that's frustrating
because the delays, you know, have it, and that's something
I've seen in the last five years is you know, personally,
as mayor, its respect that these people are more than
just numbers on a page or a spreadsheet, and the
(12:18):
delays in funding or when factories close, they're not just numbers.
These are real lives we're dealing with, and these delays
have consequences. And you know, wherever you call home, you
deserve to have had access to anybody else. And that's
been part of this and it's just it was just,
(12:39):
it still remains just a lot. But it's that the
day that I climbed up on the hill and looked
out over Canton and it was basically a lake, there's
just not words.
Speaker 3 (12:48):
I think that when I think resilience, not only do
I think western North Carolina, but in particular I always
think of Heywood County. I'm from Macon County. I feel
like we're kind of neighbors and countries. Yeah, yeah, but
I just the resilience and the strength. Mountain folk are
a special breed of people. I feel one hundred times
(13:08):
since Helene hit I've always known that mountain folk were
capable of this strength, this love, the sense of community,
but to see it in action, I don't know about you,
but that's pretty powerful.
Speaker 2 (13:20):
Stuff, it is. And there there was moments I just
broke down because of goodness, because you know, one thing
that haunts me and that's why you know, I appreciate
doing things just like this. And throughout all of this,
I'll never be able to say thank you to all
the people that had our back, that donated food, sit
(13:41):
a check, sit a prayer. Always there's probably a little
girl somewhere in Roxburgh, North Carolina that said a prayer
to us. I'll never know, but that got us through.
And I think that is something that weighs on me.
But I think that what you see here in West
North Carolina is that we want to not just fix
our backyard cards. We want to advocate for better systems
(14:02):
because we know the next storm's coming. And I know
this because again in twenty one, we made it three years.
And that's a worry of me. You know, it's you
know what's what's coming next. But that resiliency and just
good old fashioned, just toughness. And I don't think sometimes
and I may get in trouble for this. In marsh society,
(14:23):
we sort of don't want to talk about the importance
is being tough. Things go bad. Every single life has
tragedy and setbacks and you've got to put a brave
face on. But never underestimate the power of just committing
to being tough and just to keep again, to keep going.
Speaker 3 (14:41):
It makes you stronger and it helps you move forward.
And I appreciate you and everything that you have done.
We are it's good to be us to know you, sir, well,
you are good people. You are a good mountain folk,
and we just we appreciate everything that you do.
Speaker 2 (14:53):
Well part, But I'm just part of a good team.
And I think of just not the you know, the town,
incount government you know may have Democrats and Republicans, but
the community, we're all just part of a team. And
y'all have talked about over and over again it's a family.
And you're not always going to agree with your family. Heck,
you can get that gun fistfights, but there is something
(15:16):
special about West North Carolina. And as long as we're
in a community like we are that talks about going
forward but honors tradition and you know, the things that
matter and that are sincere and substance, we're gonna be okay.
It may not be perfect, it may take a while,
but we're we're a special place and special family and
(15:40):
y'all are members of it. And again y'all have had
our backs because it's important there. People need things to
put a smile on their face to encourage them to
keep going. You need things like that and you are
part of that.
Speaker 3 (15:55):
Well, zeb Smathers, thank you for sharing your story. Thank
you for your time, sir, absolutely well, this episode is
looking forward. And these these two gentlemen right here, I
think from start to finish, the the the road that
we've traveled down with these guys has led to definitely
looking forward to bigger.
Speaker 2 (16:14):
And brighter and more beautiful things. Y'all.
Speaker 3 (16:17):
Please welcome, thank Spencer Mark Starling to the final episode
of After the Storm. So for you, guys, when you
when you look forward to what what the future holds
for Western North Carolina, what what stands out.
Speaker 2 (16:32):
To you the most? What what do you? What do
you the first thing that comes in your mind?
Speaker 5 (16:35):
I think the first thing for me that comes to
my mind is how much destruction there was, like in
the River Arts District, but how far the River Arts
District has come. Right, We just had the big announcement
about the salvage station reopening right in that old in
that old factory, the old cardboard factory, or the old
paper recycling factory, like you know, that to me is
(16:59):
a giant leap from where I think we all thought
the River Arts District was going to be. I mean,
I was pretty certain that there was going to be
a no build order. They were going to put down
grass everywhere, and that was going to be the end
of it. But to me, that's one of the ones
that sticks out to me between that and I would say,
like where Swannaoah has come in this short amount of time.
(17:20):
I mean, it really has been a short amount of time.
Speaker 6 (17:22):
Yeah, thank Making sure that everybody, I mean, I think
we have to, you know, as a community, keep the
pressure on to make sure that everybody who is still hurting,
everybody who still has you know, out outstanding bills and
stuff from all of the damage and the recovery and stuff.
We have to keep the pressure as a community on
(17:44):
the federal government to make sure that we're getting all
of the FEMA money that we can. I mean, there
are still people who are up in the air about
what they're going to do with their properties. You know,
my sister lost her house in Clyde, and we're now
how far into this scenario and there still is no
(18:04):
answer from FEMA or insurance companies or anything about what
the future of that property can be. And I think
that's the important thing, is making sure that we become
as whole as possible.
Speaker 5 (18:20):
I think there's two storms that you're talking about. I
think there was the physical storm of Hurricane Helen or
tropical Storm Heleene and all of the damage it did,
And now I think you're looking at the bureaucratic storm, right,
You're looking at all of the bureau red tape that's
got to be cut through in order to get building
projects done, in order to get infrastructure back to where
(18:41):
it needs to be. Like, that's kind of a war
in itself because it's never ending, right, I mean, it's
something that kind of, like Tank said, our job now
is so different than what it was during the storm,
because now our job is to reach out to the
state auditor or the state treasurer or any of these
all verses or entities and put the pressure on them
(19:02):
to say, hey, here's the situation that we've been informed of.
Your office is in charge of this, how do we
get resolution. How do we make that work, how do
we make that better for people? And I think that's
really the big challenge right now, right because there's a
lot of people, like the private bridge thing is still
a really big challenge right now. You know a lot
(19:24):
of people say, oh, that's dot. Well, a lot of
those bridges were dot. But a lot of those bridges
were private bridges. And let's be honest, folks in this area,
they don't necessarily have one hundred thousand dollars sitting around
to put a new bridge up. So I think now
is the time for us to start finding solutions to
some of these problems. And you start to find organizations
(19:45):
like you know, Precision Grading and some of these folks
who have really ever since the storm left, they've still
been out there doing this and still trying to make
it so that if someone doesn't have the money to
get something done, they can get it done.
Speaker 2 (19:57):
And I think that's.
Speaker 5 (19:57):
Really where the rebuilding comes. The rebuilding comes from from
all of us and kind of sticking together the same
way we did twenty four hours after the storm.
Speaker 4 (20:06):
So through everything, like on a personal side, you know,
being here through the storm, everything that came after, even
now still seeing so many people struggle. What helps you,
guys stay like optimistic and hopeful?
Speaker 2 (20:18):
Therapy?
Speaker 5 (20:19):
I wish I was kidding, but in a sense I'm not,
But yeah, no, I think it is. I think you
see the stories, right, you see the stories of people overcoming,
and business is overcoming and reopening and things like that.
I mean, I think for me, that's that's the big
one for me personally.
Speaker 6 (20:35):
For me, it's hard to find hope after a disaster.
I mean, it's hard to look around at your surroundings
and know that everything's different and know that nothing that
not everything is going to be the same as it was.
And I mean I drive around and I drive through
(20:57):
Swanna Noah, and I drive over the bow and Ridge
and drive down by the river, and you can still
just feel kind of this I don't know, emptiness everywhere exactly.
Speaker 2 (21:11):
There is a reminder I mean a level.
Speaker 6 (21:13):
I mean, have you ever driven You drive I forty
past Old Fort Mountain and you go that way the
damage that was done out there that you can just
see from the interstate and it's just a mile long
of just devastation, right, and there's nothing there. You can
tell there were things there before, but there's I don't know,
(21:36):
it's I guess therapy would be a good thing. I've been,
I've been, people have recommended to me several times maybe
we should maybe we should go into therapy and talk
about these things and try to find the hope. I mean,
it's hard, but as as Mark said, it is those
those stories of the success stories of the businesses coming
back and people find in new places where they you know,
(22:00):
they were destroyed before.
Speaker 2 (22:01):
And it's it's.
Speaker 6 (22:03):
Hard to find hope right now, and you gotta we
gotta lean on each other.
Speaker 4 (22:06):
Yeah. Sure.
Speaker 5 (22:07):
I think one of the other big signs, probably for
all of us, is to see the success that some
people have been able to have because of the grit
and the determination that they had, right And I look
at guys like Kolie and the Voice from the Chainsaw Brothers, right,
all they wanted to do was help, and that's what
(22:28):
they did for like weeks and weeks and weeks and weeks, right,
They ran off donations and then all of a sudden
this thing happened and it was like, hey, we're really
good at this, we should do this. And the next
thing you know, a business is born and lives were changed. Now,
granted it was born out of a tragedy, but so
were so many other things, right, And so I think
(22:48):
you look at you look at the things that have
that have been very organic to come about, Valley Strong
disaster relief and all the work that they're doing. And
you know, Jason ward and is kind of how tenacious
he has been with helping people find what they need
and getting people the resources that they need. You know,
I think all of that is a sign of success
(23:09):
for our area, right. I mean, heck, I've got I've
got the chainsaw Brothers at my house today taking down
a sixty foot holm tree, right. So, you know, you see,
you see what the storm, You see the scars that
the storm left, but you also see the new life
that's being kind of breathed into our area. And you
kind of have to take take account of both of those.
(23:32):
It can't be all good or all bad. It can
be a little bit of both. And I think that's
where we are at right now.
Speaker 3 (23:37):
I mean two part question for both of you as
we wrap up the final episode here. In the days
right after the storm, what were you looking forward to most?
And now what are you looking forward to the most?
Speaker 5 (23:53):
In the Wow, that's so I can't even look at
a chili dog the same way, because until you've been
trapped in a radio station for four days with nothing
but chili dogs, you really can't. Like, I think, for me,
it's those small things that like, you know, I missed coffee,
Like we when the water went out, it never even
(24:16):
came into harmonds and I was like, oh, I'll go
make a.
Speaker 2 (24:18):
Pot of coffee.
Speaker 5 (24:19):
Yeah, and I'll look at me and I was like,
we're gonna have to chew grounds because we don't have
anything to.
Speaker 2 (24:23):
Make affy with.
Speaker 5 (24:25):
You know what, Now, I look, I think what I
look forward to the most is just the calm, Right.
I look forward and this is going to sound horrible,
but I look kind of forward to the day that
I go all the way through the day and the
storm never comes up. A mundane day, Yeah, like a
day where you know, because I mean a lot of
times we'll run into people out in public or wherever
(24:47):
and they'll say and everybody, and fairly enough, they want
to tell you their storm story. And there's I mean,
there is something cathartic about that, But then there is
also something that's like.
Speaker 3 (24:57):
It's ironic you bring up because a man did not
talk about at daily about it. It's it's you just
you can't hide from nothing.
Speaker 2 (25:03):
We want to hide from it.
Speaker 3 (25:04):
No, we embrace it and we love those stories. But
it's yeah, if if we could ever get back to that,
that that kind of normal, right, that'd be okay.
Speaker 5 (25:13):
I have to think this is the same thing that
the people in New Orleans went through after Katrina, Right,
this is the same feeling of you know, you drive
down this street and it's fine, make a right hand
turn or a left hand turn, and there's a really
bad reminder of it for you, right. I mean, I
know for us in Black Mountain, we've still got a
house that is up on its end in halfway down
(25:34):
in the ditch and the other end stick it up,
and it's kind of like you keep wondering, when is
that When is that scar going to be taken away?
Speaker 2 (25:40):
And does it ever really go away? Once that house
is gone?
Speaker 5 (25:44):
Now it's like, okay, well I remember there was something reliving.
Speaker 4 (25:47):
That's how it is for me when I drive by
O'Reilly's and all that on Riverside Drive, you know, wood
Fin because that was the kind of first thing that
we saw, you know that first morning that we came in,
and that's my home, you know, that's where I grew
up in Woodfin. So every time I drive by there,
it still kind of looks the same in areas and
some are rebuilding, but it always takes me back to
that that first day, and.
Speaker 3 (26:07):
I say, we want to forget at all, right, but Tank,
what about you? What the days after?
Speaker 6 (26:12):
And then now, uh, the days after. I mean, I
was just really looking forward to a cheeseburger.
Speaker 3 (26:20):
The simple thing again, the simple thing you just don't realize.
I mean, flipping a switch as you walk into the room,
a faucet, it's the.
Speaker 2 (26:30):
Little one is start by milk.
Speaker 3 (26:31):
I mean, just I mean mundane, just I don't want
to say stupid, but just boring, everyday things.
Speaker 2 (26:37):
That all of a sudden we take for granted. Oh
my gosh, you.
Speaker 6 (26:40):
Just wanted you just wanted some sense of normalcy. And
then one day I left here and I'm driving and
you know, the family was staying here because this was
the only place that had power, so they would come
up here during the day. And we drove home that
evening and the Shell gas station on Hendersonville Road, right
(27:03):
at Heywood Road, the folks that run the restaurant in
there had set up outside and they were cooking hamburgers
and stuff, and we stood in a parking lot and
I paid eight dollars for a hamburger.
Speaker 2 (27:19):
Yeah no, I mean it was the greatest sense of normal.
You remember those old victories though, because that's what they were.
Oh yeah.
Speaker 5 (27:27):
I think the one victory that really stood out to
me was walking like there was I could hear someone
knocking at the side door, and I don't know, this
was maybe three or four days afterwards, and I can
hear someone knocking at the side door, and I walked
over there and I think, I think you and you
and you two were still on the air. Well, you
three were still on the air together. And I walked
over the door and there's a guy and his wife
(27:49):
standing there, and for the love for me, I cannot
remember their names, but they were standing there with this
box and they had forty five Arby's roast.
Speaker 2 (27:58):
Beef sandwich was in his bag.
Speaker 1 (28:00):
Those I remember.
Speaker 2 (28:02):
Jeremy Green and I liked last one. Like yesterday, Jeremy
Green and I.
Speaker 5 (28:06):
Would walk in the building each day and we look
at each other and go, how many sandwiches you eat?
I'd be like, I'm up to six today, Jeremy still
eighteen left.
Speaker 4 (28:13):
But we didn't even care if they've been sitting out.
Speaker 5 (28:15):
You just wanted something that wasn't like add water and
stir right.
Speaker 2 (28:19):
I mean, yeah, you know.
Speaker 5 (28:21):
And I think the memories of people showing up, like
when Jessica Jessica Manley got here and she's like, guys,
I know you haven't had any food, and she's like,
I made you the last thing that we had in
the cabinets and it was like we'd been eating chili
dogs for three days and she walks in with rice
and beans.
Speaker 2 (28:35):
I'm like, I just can't do it. I can't do
any more.
Speaker 5 (28:39):
Start just like but like when you guys showed up,
like we knew, we knew via phone that you guys
were okay right before you got just before you got there,
but then to see you guys walk in and it
was like, okay, there's a like here's here's four more
degrees of normalcy that are now the building. And then
(29:00):
Josh got here and and everybody else kind of started
getting here. And I think that was probably the first
time that Tank and I looked at each other and
were like, I think we can exhale now right right,
And and so for us to see all of you
guys arrive, that was like a big slap of normalcy
for us of like okay, like we got help now,
like this is everything changes from here moving forward, like
(29:23):
we've got help and we know what we've got to do.
So I think that you know, that sticks out the
relationships in this building stick out a lot more now
after all of this.
Speaker 2 (29:34):
I think for us looking forward, we.
Speaker 3 (29:37):
I'm just it's good to know that if anything like
this happens again, that we will go through this together.
And when I say I mean mountain folk. So looking
forward to having support, the love of the sense of
community that that to me means everything.
Speaker 4 (29:51):
And this team, like I don't think that with different
people we would have done our job, but I feel
like we all are just such a family anyway. Yeah,
we have our moments where we don't like each other
like any other family, but we were able to just
be a family together. I mean it was a job
and we were working, but we were all checking on
each other and here together and that meant a lot
(30:11):
to me.
Speaker 5 (30:12):
Well, and I think, like what you said, if any
one member of our team had been different. This doesn't
play out the way that it did. It didn't sound
the way that it did. It didn't it wouldn't have
come across the way that it did. And I think
what was so interesting was that every single person on
our iHeart team, their vested interest was getting the community
(30:35):
through this. It wasn't I've got my own problems to
deal with. It was set that stuff to the side,
and let's get everybody else through all of this, and
then we'll get each other through what we need to
get each other through.
Speaker 4 (30:47):
Well, we love I think we all love this community
so much because we were born and raised here, but
also how much this community supports and loves us. Like
any moment, everybody in this community steps up to show
us love. Whether it's baby's marriages, you know you're going
through a hard time, yeah, So to just have them
be here with us and to know that we could
help them in some way, that's what kept me going
(31:08):
every day.
Speaker 2 (31:09):
And I mean, look, we got the key to the
town of ken I mean, I was gonna be bigger.
Speaker 4 (31:14):
The bigger, But if you do not stop hard time, I.
Speaker 2 (31:20):
Think I could pick more locks with a toothpick. But
that's Okay, it's still an honor.
Speaker 5 (31:26):
I just think that everybody, you know, everybody takes something
different away from this, right, Like, your guys experience was
so totally different than our experience, and Josh and Ariel
had such a totally different experience. What was interesting was
I don't think we all really learned what each other
had gone through until well after the story.
Speaker 3 (31:44):
But at the same time it was the same, it
was different. So, I mean, there's nobody I would rather
experience if I wish it hadn't happened at all, but
to experience it with you guys, it was truly an
honor and we cannot thank you enough. Thank you Mark
for your story and sharing the experience and just being
there for this community.
Speaker 5 (32:03):
Well in this podcast it means something, right, It means
something to.
Speaker 2 (32:05):
People, we hope, so and I think.
Speaker 5 (32:07):
Well, I think things like this helped bring closure, right,
They helped people process what they went through and realize
that like, oh, I'm not by myself, there's like half
a million other people here with.
Speaker 2 (32:18):
Me, right though. Absolutelyness, thank y'all, we love you, Thank you, Yes, sir.
Speaker 4 (32:22):
When we started this series, we didn't really know exactly
how it would fail. To tell these stories. We knew
they mattered because this wasn't history. It was our lives,
our neighbors, our home.
Speaker 3 (32:32):
Over the past four episodes, we've heard about fear and loss,
but we've also heard about courage, about people who stood
up when everything around them fell apart, about a community
that refused to let the storm have the final word.
Speaker 4 (32:45):
These stories don't belong to us. They belonged to every
family who opened their door, every volunteer who showed up
without being asked, and every small business that unlocked again
even when it was hard.
Speaker 3 (32:56):
Western North Carolina didn't just survive Hurricane Helen. We should
the world what resilience really looks like. Not loud, not flashy,
but steady, kind and unbreakable.
Speaker 4 (33:06):
And as we look ahead, we carry these voices with
us because recovery doesn't end when the cleanup does, healing
doesn't follow a timeline, and hope, real hope, is built
day by day.
Speaker 3 (33:17):
So if you're listening and you were a part of
this story, thank you. If you shared your story with us,
thank you. And if you're still rebuilding, just know this
you ain't.
Speaker 4 (33:26):
Alone from our family to years from these mountains we
call home. Thank you. For listening, remembering and believing
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