Asheville, NC Flooding- Help the Mathews After Loss

Help the Mathews Family After Their Devastating Loss

My name is Meryl Wolff, and I am raising funds for my dear friends, Hannah and Michael Mathews, and their family, who have suffered a heartbreaking loss. In the recent catastrophic floods in Asheville, NC, they lost their uninsurable hydroelectric power plant business that supplies the majority of their income.

Hannah and Michael are the loving parents of four young children. Since 2009, they have poured their hearts, time, and resources into building and improving their hydroelectric power plant all out of their own pockets. The vast majority of their family income came from this business which sold clean hydroelectric power to Duke Energy and supplied enough power for approximately 600 homes at full capacity. It wasn’t just a source of income—it was a labor of love for the entire family, a project they worked on together and visited frequently.

The floods completely destroyed the plant, leaving the family emotionally devastated and without their primary major source of income. Due to the plant's location near the river and the inherent risks of high-voltage electricity, their business was deemed uninsurable. There is no financial assistance available to them in this situation.

This flooding surpassed anything seen in Asheville since the 1916 disaster, defying statistical models that predicted the river would never rise to such heights. Now, the Mathews family faces the unimaginable task of rebuilding from nothing.

Through the years of knowing Hannah and Michael, I’ve witnessed their boundless generosity and kindness. They are always the first to offer help to others. Now, in their greatest time of need, they are hesitant to ask for support—but they need us, their community, to rally around them.

If I have learned anything volunteering in disaster recovery, it is that no matter how we currently live, we are all one disaster away from our lives being turned upside down and wondering how we will support our family.

Please consider donating to help this wonderful family rebuild their lives and support their children as they navigate this challenging time. Any amount helps, and your generosity will give them the strength to move forward.

The funding will be used to help the family survive this loss of income.

Here are some before and after photos of the devastation

This photo shows just how much the water level rose