48 hours after Hurricane Helen battered western North Carolina with wind and rain, Sam Perkins still hasn’t heard from his parents.
So, on Saturday morning, he got into his vehicle and started to find them, heading for their home on a hill between Spruce Pine and Little Switzerland.
“My parents live in an absolute gem in the North Carolina mountains,” Perkins said in a post about her experience. The area is about an hour’s drive from Asheville. “Under normal circumstances, it’s happily very isolating,” she added in a post about her experience.
“There, I did not know that Helen had demolished roads, houses and utility networks. This area is completely cut off from resources in all directions.
According to CNN’s tally, at least 93 people died when Helen tore through the southeastern United States. North Carolina was hit hard: Days of incessant flooding turned roads into waterways, leaving many without basic necessities and straining state resources.
Governor Roy Cooper called it “one of the worst storms in modern history.” Even as supplies are deployed, at least 280 roads across the state are still closed, making it difficult for officials to get them to areas that need them, Cooper said.
When he realized how many roads were closed, Perkins said, he left his vehicle near a closed highway at the base of the mountain and hiked to his parents’ house.
“I tried every road route I could, but everywhere you go the roads are blocked by landslides or failures,” Perkins explained to CNN. “I cannot tell you how many rutted roads and deep mudslides I had to cross, how many trees fell, and how many times I had to take off my bag and go.”
During the hike, Perkins said, he ran into several people who were stuck on the destroyed highway. After more than three and a half hours, Perkins said he hiked 11 miles and 2,200 feet before finally reaching his parents’ home.
“I’ve never felt comfortable looking at anybody,” Perkins told CNN, whose parents are in their 70s but very capable.
“I hugged them, cried, filled them in on all the news they were missing… walked around the property and helped them decide how to approach certain challenges.”
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