Support Recovery After the Cane River Flood

On Friday, September 27th, western north carolina was hit with by hurricane helene and experienced subsequent extreme flooding and mudslides.

Eli Shipman and I live on the Cane River about 30 feet from the water with our Corgi. We were not concerned about evacuation because historically, the highest the Cane River has ever risen was 10 feet, and we had not received any evacuation notices. We had just bought enough food to be holed up for a couple of days without power.

We woke up to an emergency alert at 7am, but at that point, the water had already reached the road and was moving fast. Between the hours of 7am-11am, we watched the river turn into a deadly mudslide and rise up 30 feet to the very edge of our house. It destroyed all of the trees, took down power lines, ripped up the roads around our house. Our basement flooded and destroyed much of our belongings, and caused significant mold in a matter of days. Our driveway is a 12 foot cliff and will need to be completely rebuilt, and earth below it filled to connect to the highway once that is rebuilt. We are so lucky to be alive and unharmed.

We were stuck at the house for five days surrounded by destruction with no way of leaving or getting in contact with anyone until our family and search and rescue was able to get to us and get us out.

WE ARE UNINSURED FOR FLOODS. Flood insurance is separate that homeowners insurance, so we are having to pay for damages OUT OF POCKET. We're getting quotes for damages landing us between $28,000-$38,000.

Not only is our house damaged and isolated by roads and bridges that are destroyed, the restaurant that Eli was working at (Vivian) was significantly damaged in the Asheville flooding and we are both currently without jobs. We were only able to grab what we can fit in a couple of bags, and leave the rest behind in the house. We had to leave both of our vehicles. We are having to relocate at least semi-permanently, but possibly long term, and still pay the mortgage on the house plus all of our other personal bills.

We're looking at a jobless 3 months and a houseless 6 months to a year.

We have lost so much and are at a complete loss about how to move forward.

This amount would cover the damages to the house and keep us afloat for a few months until we can get back on our feet and figure out what the next steps look like.

We are so grateful to be alive and uninjured when others were less fortunate. This was a catastrophic disaster that I have never seen anything like and our lives are forever changed by it.