Damage caused by Hurricane Helene traps Adams County family of 12 in cabin on North Carolina mountain

OLD FORT, N.C. — Eight adults and four small children have been stranded in a cabin in western North Carolina since late last week because of extensive damage caused by Hurricane Helene, the Category 4 storm that rocked the Florida panhandle Thursday night before making its way to several states in the southeastern region.

The party of 12 arrived at the otherwise scenic mountainside abode in Old Fort last Wednesday night for a family wedding that was to take place on Saturday, with departure set for Sunday. Old Fort, with a population of 811 people, is surrounded by the Pisgah National Forest in the Blue Ridge Mountains. The McDowell County Tourism Development Authority says Old Fort is home to some of the region’s most challenging mountain biking and hiking trails.

The 12 people are:

• Karl Anderson (61) and Amy Anderson (60)
• David Sapp (39) and Megan Sapp (29) and their baby (1)
• Gavin Harper (35) and Kelsey Harper (33) and three kids (ages 3-9)
• Kaitlin Anderson (36) and boyfriend Jordan Cook (32)

Megan, Kelsey and Kaitlin are all daughters of Karl and Amy.

The group headed about an hour west to Asheville on Thursday morning for a tour of Biltmore Estate, the 19th-century castle built by George Vanderbilt, before eventually making their way back to the cabin that night. 

Helene swept through the Appalachian region by Friday with a vengeance, leaving Biltmore Village underwater and the Anderson, Sapp and Harper families trapped in their cabin. More than two feet of water was dumped on some parts of the area, leading to widespread flooding that resulted in what one local official has described as “biblical devastation.”

Getting by with a little help from their Facebook friends

It was a rude awakening in North Carolina Friday morning as the group discovered the “long, scenic driveway” highlighted in the property’s VRBO listing had been compromised by downed trees and mudslides. High winds, heavy rainfall and sweeping floods took out swaths of power lines and cell towers, making it even more difficult to reach people in the most remote parts of the mountains. 

The cabin’s backup generator and a stunning sense of luck have allowed the group to maintain communications with the outside world. 

“Right now our issue is that the gravel between our house and the paved road is washed out with very deep ruts,” Kaitlin Anderson said in a text message.

Group members utilized tools found in the property’s garage to clear several trees, and they have used their cellphones to send messages and make phone calls to find resources. Friends and family members have created social media posts to share the situation. One post was noticed by a set of locals in North Carolina who showed up Saturday to help the family continue clearing the road. 

The help didn’t stop there. The cabin owner put the family in contact with the owner of a nearby property about a 20-minute walk away. The neighbor wasn’t there at the time but gave the family permission to enter the property, granting them access to toilet paper and a generous supply of food just as they had started to run out.

The group made pasta sauce Saturday night for dinner from jars of tomatoes found in the neighbor’s pantry, paired with pasta noodles and frozen vegetables they had on hand. Bacon, eggs and hash browns were on Sunday morning’s menu. 

Kaitlin said the group has been reading, doing word searches, playing card games and enjoying the hot tub on the cabin’s sprawling porch. 

And, of course, doing everything they can to get home.

Kaitlin’s dad, Karl Anderson, got his Jeep down the mountain on Sunday and reached a Pilot Travel Center about 25 minutes northeast in Marion, N.C. 

About an hour and a half away in the opposite direction of Marion is Asheville, where the group had traveled a few days ago. To make the trip now would be nearly impossible. The North Carolina Department of Transportation has prohibited all non-emergency travel in western North Carolina, stating “all roads are considered closed.”

“We absolutely did not think it would end up like this… We knew it would be raining the whole time we were here, but we didn’t expect the level of flooding and everything,” Kaitlin said. 

“Sounds like the locals didn’t either.”

‘Biblical devastation’ in North Carolina

Western North Carolina is considered to be one of the hardest-hit areas following Hurricane Helene. Officials from Buncombe County, where Asheville is located, confirmed 30 casualties had resulted by Sunday afternoon, accounting for nearly a third of the overall death toll across several states.

“We’re still conducting search operations, and we know that those also may include recovery operations,” Buncombe County Sheriff Quentin E. Miller said in a media briefing streamed to Facebook.

More than 600 people are still missing in the county of roughly 275,000 people. 

Heavy rain during the week had left terrain saturated and water levels high, causing rivers and streams to spill over when Helene made it to the Appalachians. The National Weather Service warned that the failure of Lake Lure Dam — located less than an hour south of where the Andersons, Sapps and Harpers were — was “imminent” on Friday morning as water began to cascade over the top and out from the sides. The warning was withdrawn later on Friday, and though damage due to erosion has been observed, the dam is still holding strong, as reported by the Associated Press.

A major U.S. interstate, I-40, has been rendered impassable in many areas due to landslides in some areas and collapses in others. Images of modern day Helene’s effects on western North Carolina are reminiscent of images taken after the Great Flood of 1916, which claimed 80 lives and held the record for most severe flooding in the area before this weekend.

President Joe Biden declared the state was experiencing a major disaster on Saturday, thereby dispensing federal assistance to aid in recovery efforts.

“Many lives, homes and businesses have been lost, and many people are still missing,” Kaitlin said. “We have been incredibly lucky.”

The Associated Press reports that property damage and economic loss could total up to $110 billion.

“A huge thank you to our friends and family back home, as well as those outside of the area, who made all kinds of phone calls and Google searches and Facebook posts to find us resources and make connections with people who could help,” Kaitlin said. 

Assistance is set to arrive Monday morning to help in getting the group’s truck out, which has been lodged in the mud. Once the truck is out, they hope to get the smaller vehicles out by filling in the “worst ruts” with firewood.

“Then we should be able to get home,” Kaitlin said.