Have You Seen This?
by Tim Vandenack, KSL.com · KSL.comEstimated read time: 2-3 minutes
IN DEEP WATER — In the wake of Hurricanes Helene and Milton, there are many videos on the web documenting the resulting damage and devastation.
There are videos showing washed-out bridges, battered neighborhoods, a recreational vehicle carried off by a fast-moving river, a surprise mudslide, homes being shoved off their foundations by overflowing water and more. It's all dramatic, sad stuff, just a sliver of what many have endured.
One from Hendersonville, North Carolina, jumped out to me. It shows several neighbors gathered in brown water that rises well above their waists in the living room of one of their homes, seemingly trying to figure out what to do. They apparently all got caught by fast-rising water brought on by heavy rain and flooding triggered by Hurricane Helene in late September.
"All right, we got to think about getting out of here because this is going to be …," says David Rhode during the short video, his voice trailing off. I count eight people, two dogs and a cat in the clip, the animals sitting above the water, the people standing in the cold water, talking and trying to hang on as pillows and other items float around them.
Those in the home survived, fortunately, but it serves as a small show of what people in North Carolina, Florida and other impacted areas went through and are still enduring. According to Fox 5 TV in Washington, D.C., some areas of North Carolina were inundated with four months' worth of rain in just three days owing to Helene.
"We started rescuing our neighbors. … Most of them are between 70 and 90 (years old)," James White, the owner of the Hendersonville home, later told Inside Edition. At one point, 15 people were in his home, he said, with more gathered in a neighbor's home.
After two hours, White helped lead those in the home to drier ground and safety using ropes and life jackets, all surviving. He was relieved. "We lost everything. That's trivial. You can't replace a life," White said.
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Tim Vandenack
Tim Vandenack covers immigration, multicultural issues and Northern Utah for KSL.com. He worked several years for the Standard-Examiner in Ogden and has lived and reported in Mexico, Chile and along the U.S.-Mexico border.