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By Mackala Krichbaum, KrichbaumM@Findlay.edu
“Home Sweet Home” is used by many, however facing the aftermath of Hurricane Helene residents of North Carolina have been left with a large uncertainty about the future of their communities and homes.
Senior David Hines opened up about the aftermath of his community of Weaverville and his experiences as a college student in Ohio. Weaverville is a special location for many like Hines.
“In the time that we’ve been there, it’s just a big sense of family, everybody kind of looks out for each other, even when we first moved to the area, neighbors came up and introduced themselves,” Hines said.
The largest issue for the Weaverville community is the flooding that Hurricane Helene brought.
“Most people still don’t have power or cell service. Lots of flooding for people in their homes,” Hines said. “Mostly flooding was the biggest issue in our area, so luckily, I know for us, a big portion of my driveway just up and gone, because of it all just a massive, massive rainfall.”
Residents were not necessarily expecting the amount of rainfall that they had received.
“I don’t think anybody was quite expecting to get as much rain as they thought, especially up in the mountains and getting that type of stuff, but luckily my parents were able to stay just in the house,” Hines said. “But they ended up leaving on Sunday.”
Hines’s family was able to go to his grandparents who still had power four to five hours away. Looking to contact his family Hines had an almost 48-hour period of no-contact.
“I was able to talk to them Friday morning before really all the craziness happened and then I didn’t hear from them again until Sunday afternoon,” Hines said. “Then they were able to reach out, thankfully, but during those 48 hours, I was just sitting there without really knowing what exactly was going on, but I was just thankful to hear from them on Sunday.”
Looking into the aftermath of the rainfall the local schools canceled classes for the upcoming week as people in the community are homebound. The future of Weaverville is looking up as the community is so close.
“I think from stuff I’ve seen there’s a lot of people who are already getting supplies, water, and food, getting all that built up,” Hines said. “I feel like just the first step in that is getting people back in their homes or getting people in a situation where they can be comfortable until they can get moved back to their homes. A lot of people’s homes are just gone or in a situation where they’ll have to restart from scratch.”
Academically Hines is still a student even with the aftermath of his hometown in his mind.
“For me, the biggest thing was not being able to reach out to my family,” Hines said. “It was tough not knowing if they were okay and then after knowing they were okay, just seeing all the devastation to the area knowing that it’s not going to be the same when I go home.”
There are ways to help those put in devasting situations by Hurricane Helene.
“Just sharing that awareness, it would be big just to get that awareness out for people,” Hines said.
The community behind Hines is one thing he is thankful for.
“I’m just thankful after seeing all the craziness that my family was able to get out and be okay,” Hines said. “My house is still in one piece and minimal damage, so just knowing that I was one of the lucky few people.”
Hines also plays football for UF, so his team continued to rally for him.
“I’ve definitely had a lot of teammates reach out to me and just say, ‘I’m glad your house is okay;’ ‘I’m glad that your family is okay and if you need anything, let us know,’” Hines said. “That sense of family around here that you hear so much about, they’ve all been here for me.”
