I don’t know anyone in Asheville, NC; the closest person I know is in Denver, NC, near Charlotte. About a week ago, I was watching a tropical storm develop near the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico. It suddenly made headlines as it was projected to strengthen into a major hurricane and hit the Florida panhandle within two days. Since we have business operations in Florida and Georgia, I always keep an eye on developments like this.
As the day and hour approached for landfall, the storm was expected to be devastating, with a storm surge of up to 20 feet. That is incredible. There were urgent calls for evacuation, as some faced certain death if they stayed. Clearly, not everyone heeded those warnings. When the hurricane struck, destruction was anticipated; they could see it coming. They were in the path of a Category 4 hurricane, and although it could have turned, they had choices and options before them—a path to escape.
I even spoke to a man who was working in Tampa the day the storm hit. He had traveled to the Tampa side of the bay after working in Clearwater along the coast earlier that day. He knew the danger.
In the Appalachian Mountains of Western North Carolina, residents were unprepared for what would befall them. Hurricane Helene unleashed a record amount of rain, resulting in unprecedented rainfall totals. Asheville, one of the hardest-hit communities, saw 17 inches of rain in just three days. To put this into perspective, the Asheville Citizen-Times reported that 17 inches is typically the amount of rain expected in an entire month.
- Spruce Pine – 24.12 inches
- Hendersonville – 21.96 inches
- Candler – 16.18 inches
- Grandfather Mountain – 15.42 inches
- Asheville – 17.31 inches
- Woodfin – 6.17 inches
- Bat Cave – 6.88 inches
- Lake Lure – 7.24 inches
- Mills River – 12.16 inches
- Swannanoa – 13.21 inches
- How much rain fell in Western North Carolina? Next weather forecast (citizen-times.com)
I have seen the images and videos streaming across my social media feeds and news websites. Hundreds of lives have been lost, and the tragedy strikes deeper into the soul as we witness the immense loss that so many people have faced.
I listened to a report about a youth home in the mountains where around 100 kids live, and church groups often visit. The report mentioned that the kids were in the lodge when they felt the ground moving under their feet. They all ran outside, and within seconds, the lodge was swept away by a landslide. Now, the visiting youth group is stranded, leaving parents unable to reach their children amid this crisis.
It hit home when I saw a story on the Daily Mail (which I don’t recommend for everyone—it’s a salacious tabloid, but they often report events like this better than U.S. media). The story featured grandparents sitting on their roof, completely surrounded by floodwater, while their granddaughter watched them being swept away. For some reason, I could feel what those grandparents must have experienced, trying to do what they thought was safe: getting on the roof, wearing warm jackets, and taking important belongings in a backpack. I noticed the puffy jacket and the full backpack, and it struck me that if that man fell into the water, there would be no hope. The water was already up to the shingles of their home.
I searched for a map of the affected area and found one on Google showing that a quarter of North Carolina is shut down. Interstate highways are impassable, bridges are out, and travel and commerce have come to a halt in that region. It’s then that you begin to grasp the true scope of what has happened there.
Asheville, North Carolina, is no less important than Florida or any other place experiencing the effects of tragedy. This morning, I read about the human trafficking uncovered by the IDF as they invaded Hezbollah strongholds. There is so much happening all over the world—so much commotion, so much tragedy, and so much loss.
There is one hope in the world: Jesus Christ. May our hearts be filled with compassion for our fellow man. We will all face suffering as calamities increase, but if we remain grounded in Jesus, we will have hope and an eternal perspective.