by Riley Blankenship

Over the weekend of September 27, the Southeast was hit hard and was deeply impacted by Hurricane Helene. On Friday, September 27, Helene hit Florida’s Big Bend region as a furious category four storm. As it hit land, it downgraded to a tropical storm as it moved through Georgia, the Carolinas and eastern Tennessee. Residents in the southeast woke up to complete devastation and even washed-out towns the following Saturday.

One state that was heavily impacted by Helene was our own state, North Carolina, specifically in the Western part. Asheville, a major city in our state for tourism, unfortunately got the most devastation. Biltmore Park, a hot tourist sight right outside of Asheville, was almost completely underwater days after the storm. Chimney Rock and Lake Lure, two gorgeous landmarks in our state and home to many, was completely wreaked and destroyed in the aftermath of the storm. The entire downtown portion of Chimney Rock is also now gone due to being washed away by flood waters. A huge takeaway from this storm that I do not think anyone fully understood until it was too late was how widespread the damage would be. Effects from Helene was felt even in the upstate of South Carolina.

My family along with many others were impacted greatly by Helene. Being raised in Spartanburg, South Carolina, I never really thought a hurricane would do much damage to my hometown until Helene hit. I remember that the Friday morning that the hurricane hit, my dad called and told me the complete and utter destruction Helene had caused my hometown. Power lines were scattered, there was no gas, complete trees were uprooted and in the road. My dad even described the area looking like a warzone. I also have much of my other family in the Western part of NC especially. Seeing photos and videos of the wreckage of the town while I was here in Greensboro really took a toll on me. Luckily, all my family in western NC are safe but unfortunately some of their homes have been destroyed by the storm.

Many local communities in Western NC are just now seeing the full extent of the damages caused by Helene. FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency), the National Guard and along with many other organizations are currently still in the western part of the state helping clean up as well as performing search and rescue. Words cannot describe the amount of damage that ensued. Thousands lost homes and some entire communities are now wiped off the map. According to Duke Energy’s website, more than 400,000 homes had no power which luckily, since the days have passed, the number has now dropped to 131,176 homes with no power.

The Collegian had the opportunity to speak with Anna White, Director of Library Services here at Greensboro College, about the library’s bake sale on October 9 for relief efforts for those in the western part of our state impacted by Helene. When asked what inspired her to host an event like this, White responded by saying that the library normally hosts events for other causes such as on Martian Luther King Jr. Day where proceeds go to the Dolly Parton Imagination Library. White mentioned these events have been very popular and successful and believed this would let faculty and students help out for those who might not know how to help. White mentioned that the proceeds from this event will go to the Western North Carolina Conference of the United Methodist Church Disaster Response Fund.