Despite flooding, Jackson escapes worst of Hurricane Helene impact
Innovation Brewing staff prepare canned water for flood victims. Chelsea Brinton photo
Jackson County was largely spared the damning effects of Hurricane Helene from which its neighbors to the east are still reeling. However, heavy rains and high winds have left thousands without power, water and telephone or internet service.
“Check on your neighbors, and help others if you can,” said Webster Mayor Tracy Rodes. “Recovery will take time and will require our patience. Let’s try to be resilient, resourceful and helpful — even in the toughest of times.”
But with no crystal ball to indicate just how the rain may fall, Jackson County Emergency Management did everything it could to prepare people for the unpredictability of what was to come.
After protracted and heavy rains through the later part of Wednesday and Wednesday night, Jackson County had declared a state of emergency by 8 a.m. Thursday morning, Sept. 26, more than 12 hours before Hurricane Helene was even set to make landfall on Florida’s gulf coast.
Jackson County Emergency Management announced Thursday morning that weather had already caused several down trees in roadways and multiple vehicle accidents across the county.
“We encourage you to stay home unless it is necessary to travel,” Jackson County Emergency Management said in a statement. “If you must travel, please use extreme caution there is heavy rain causing flash flooding in many roadways.”
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Emergency services had already begun to see power outages across Jackson County shortly after 1 a.m. Thursday morning. By 5 p.m. that same day, the county had opened two emergency shelters at the Cashiers Recreation Center and the Department on Aging Center.
Rains continued throughout the day and night on Thursday. By 6 a.m. Friday, Tuckaseigee Water and Sewer issued a boil water advisory for all customers.
“Unfortunately, the current weather conditions are having a major impact on our ability to treat water,” Daniel Manring, executive director said Thursday morning. “We are issuing the attached notice in anticipation of pressure loss. In short, there is too much mud and debris for our process to work. As soon as conditions allow, we will resume production.”
Just a few hours later on Friday morning, Scotts Creek Road and Old Cullowhee Road had been shut down due to flooding. A little after 10 a.m. the Sylva Fire Department announced that downtown Sylva was inaccessible beginning at El Patron Restaurant because Scotts Creek had overflowed its banks and was in the road from the bridge to the Coffee Shop.
Around this time, residents were beginning to see what was becoming a common message across Western North Carolina — all roads are closed.
“The only reason you should be on the road is for an emergency or to seek higher ground,” Jackson County Emergency Management said in a statement Friday before noon. “Please stay home. Turn around, don’t drown.”
It was about this time too that, like their neighbors across WNC, people in Jackson County were beginning to lose all access to cellular and internet services. Even emergency services announced Friday afternoon, Sept. 27, that 911 emergency management lines were temporarily down.
However, while this made communication among residents within and outside the county difficult, cleanup efforts moved forward.
According to emergency management personnel, the worst of the storm damage was sustained in the southern part of the county around the communities of Cashiers and Blue Ridge. With most damages related to power outages.
“We have numerous creeks coming out of their banks and the Tuckaseegee River has come out of its banks in various locations,” Emergency Management Director Todd Dillard said on Friday morning, Sept. 29. “There are approximately 10,000 power outages and at least 40 road closures. We have all of our emergency management crews working diligently on the situation, including our Jackson County Emergency Management staff, all rescue squads, fire departments, the N.C. National Guard, statewide mutual aid services, volunteers and sheriff’s office officials.”
Information released Monday, Sept. 30, indicated that 64 East near Sapphire National Golf Course was still closed. However, N.C. 107 North between Sylva and Cashiers was passable, as was N.C. 107 South between Cashiers and Walhalla and 64 West to Highlands.
According to Town Manager Paige Dowling, Sylva was able to clear all town-maintained roads by late Friday morning.
Dillard Road in Webster covered in floodwater. Aimee Rockhill photo
“We got really lucky in Sylva, all town roads are open,” said Dowling. “Mainly what we’re hearing is that people don’t have cell phone [service] or internet still, but Sylva’s very fortunate compared to our neighbors around us.”
In Webster, Mayor Tracy Rodes said the town had river and creek area flooding on a historic scale, with North and South River roads flooded in multiple places, resulting in road closures.
“Thankfully, the flood water has since receded, and there were no reports of widespread power outages in town,” said Rodes. “The county DOT crew has been working hard to shore up road shoulders along the river roads and to clear debris and downed trees.”
While North River Road is still closed to through traffic, it is passable for residents.
“We consider ourselves very fortunate not to have seen significant structural damage to homes or buildings in Webster,” Rodes said.
With communication and connectivity still an issues, Rodes said that residents are able to access public Wi-Fi, among other places, at Webster Town Hall, SCC, and the Department on Aging.
“I couldn’t get in touch with my family for about two days, and when I got a spot of service for just one minute, I was able to get the word out that my boyfriend, myself and our pets were ok,” Winstead recounted. “It’s devastating to see how many people still need help, and to see how much loss so many have suffered here.”
And while Rodes, and others in Webster count themselves lucky, the historic flooding made an impression that will persist even after floodwaters recede.
“It’s surreal seeing your road completely underwater, even when flooding is expected,” said Webster resident Morgan Winstead. “I stood with my neighbors and watched debris to by, stuff like kayaks, sheds and even a septic tank. I saw someone try to drive through it, get hydrolocked and then have to be rescued from their car before they got swept away. And I got lucky through all of this.”
Dillsboro also experienced significant flooding when Scott Creek slipped its banks and spread out to cover almost all of Front Street in a shallow pool of water on Friday, Sept. 30.
According to Town Clerk Debbie Coffey, several businesses were impacted with water damage from the flood and one duplex apartment was severely damaged. Those with the most damage include Appelgate Events Venue, Visage Salon, Dogwood Crafters, The Corn Crib and Jill’s Barber Shop.
“Out of an abundance of caution, and to comply with travel bans, our ColorFest for this Saturday, Oct. 5 has been canceled,” said Coffey.
Several organizations and businesses stepped up to volunteer, including two families from Refuge Church who came with shovels and a tractor to remove mud and debris from Front Street, as well as Air Man Heating and Air who sent a crew with chain saws to volunteer in Picnic Park and neighboring businesses.
“Mayor Tim Parris has been shoveling mud and helping our businesses tirelessly since Friday evening,” said Coffey. “Our Dillsboro people are amazing.”
On the river side of Front Street, while the water level didn’t reach as high as the raised entrances to local businesses like Innovation Station or Forager’s Canteen, those with street-level entrances did experience some flooded spaces.
“The actual brewery and tap room itself was OK,” said Chelsea Brinton of Innovation Brewing. “We have a mill room on the floor that’s level with the parking lot and we got about two feet of flooding in that room.”
But even with a mess to clean up and a lot grain damaged by floodwaters, Brinton considers herself, her business, and her town quite fortunate.
Water from Scott Creek flowed into Dillsboro. Chelsea Brinton photo
“We were very lucky,” Brinton said. “Just tons of mud now left over. That’s pretty much the bulk of it. And the parking lot is still pretty muddy with trash and stuff, but we’re just slowly picking it up.”
Innovation donated damaged grain to local farmers and thanks to an undamaged brewery and tap room in both Dillsboro and Sylva, Innovation was able to remain open throughout the weekend. With a rare Wi-Fi connection and clean water source, the Innovation breweries have remained a important gathering spot despite difficulties in the county following Hurricane Helene.
“We’re just staying open and just trying to be there for people,” said Brinton. “Everybody is really grateful, it’s been super emotional with being one of the only businesses in town that has internet. We were actually the only business open on Friday, so I mean the number of people coming in, using our landline to call family, there were a lot of tearful phone calls.”
Brinton said most people they talked to — unless they had very low elevation or riverfront properties — were ok.
“Everybody’s just really grateful to have a place to go,” said Brinton. “There’s been a lot of camaraderie and community and people actually talking to each other. In a weird way, it’s been kind of beautiful how everybody’s been connecting and helping each other and sharing resources and all that.”
Spurred on by the community connection and camaraderie they’ve seen at Innovation, the business is not working to can water, since it has a clean supply, to provide to those residents that don’t have access to clean water.
“We are doing a canning line and we’re going to can water and give that out to people, because we were told by Kevin Brown from the watershed that our water is good there because of the nature of the filtration system that we use at the brewery,” Brinton said.
But while the boil water advisory still stands for Jackson residents that are on the Tuckaseigee Water and Sewer system, many people in the eastern reaches of Western North Carolina, including Asheville, are without water completely.
“We are planning to take a bunch of it to Asheville, because one of our business partners lives in Asheville and he’s stuck out there and we’ve gotten to talk to him once or twice and it’s just a super grim situation out there,” Brinton said. “So we’re trying to take as much as we can there. Because around here we are still getting a lot more water than other places. Obviously the boil water advisory really sucks, but we at least are able to access water bottles and jugs of water a lot more than Asheville is.”
By Monday afternoon, Sept. 30, the second of two emergency shelters in Jackson had closed, indicating an end of at least the first phase in the response to Hurricane Helene. The shelter had housed about 80 people over the weekend, all of whom have been able to return home or have been relocated to nearby hotels.
The boil water advisory remained in effect, however, with Manring encouraging people to conserve water wherever possible.
“We are asking our entire community to conserve water use in response to the aftermath of Hurricane Helene that has left resources in Western North Carolina depleted,” Manring said in a statement Monday evening. “We have been fortunate that our systems are working, and it is taking effort around the clock to get water into our tanks. Please be community-minded during this unprecedented time and think of your neighbors. This water is not only used by community members but by fire service, hospitals, nursing homes and other life-saving facilities. Every single drop of water counts.”
The state of emergency for Jackson County is also still in effect and limits the purchase of gasoline to ten gallons per transaction, with many establishments still only able to take cash.
On Monday, the Jackson County Tourism Development Authority announced that it had paused all social media posts and ads that market Jackson County to potential visitors.
“Jackson County was largely spared the direct hit from Helene that our neighboring counties received, with damage limited to mostly fallen trees, wind, mudslides, and flooding,” JCTDA said in a statement. “Efforts are now under way to restore power and telecommunications services to Southern Jackson County, provide drinkable water and assist in regional recovery efforts for harder-hit areas. Travel is not advised at this time as roadways should only be utilized for emergency services. If you have existing travel plans to the area, please contact your lodging provider once communications are restored to inquire about rescheduling or cancellations.”
Additionally, the organization says it has fielded around 1,000 inquiries per day on its social media accounts, many of them messages from individuals seeking updates and information on how to check on their loved ones.
Jackson County Public Schools is closed to students Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, Sept. 30 – Oct. 2. The school system is distributing meals to adults and children from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Tuesday and Wednesday, Oct. 1-2, at Blue Ridge School and Early College, Smoky Mountain High School and Smokey Mountain Elementary School.
To check the welfare of family and loved ones, call United Way’s 2-1-1 service or 1-888-892-1162. Donations to support recovery efforts can be made online at nc.gov/donate.
