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Hurricane Helene Relief Efforts
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Hurricane Helene made landfall on Thursday, September 26, 2024, striking Florida’s Big Bend as a powerful Category 4 storm. While it weakened as it moved inland, the remnants of Helene brought catastrophic flooding and widespread damage to western North Carolina. Torrential rains—up to 30 inches in some areas—caused rivers to overflow, leading to landslides, road washouts, and destruction of entire communities. Towns like Swannanoa and Asheville were devastated, with many homes destroyed in flooded areas.
The Black Mountains region, including Chimney Rock, faced particularly severe flooding, isolating communities and requiring hundreds of rescues via helicopter. One of the very first rescues was performed early September 28th by a civilian helicopter in coordinated by Adam Smith to extract his 3.5 year old daughter and her mother from NC Hwy 9.
Once his family was confirmed safe efforts shifted to begin checking on neighbors and dropping supplies and exfiltrating as many of the hundreds of people currently stranded without power, cell service, and supplies in the area. With the help from many generous individuals and great non-profits the Savage Freedoms Relief Operations was born.
Since then hundreds of thousands of pounds of supplies have been received and moved via air and ground to those that need them most. Additional helicopter pilots and volunteered have showed up bringing the count to 150+ daily.
Hurricane Helene is already confirmed to be the most deadly and destructive storm since Hurricane Katrina. Over a hundred people were confirmed dead, and hundreds remain missing across North Carolina. The storm also caused multiple road closures, with some sections of Interstate 40 being swept away. The long-term recovery in western North Carolina will likely take years due to the scale of the devastation.