A MART脥NEZ, HOST:
Entire communities remain cut off after the remnants of Hurricane Helene hit southern Appalachia. NPR's Nathan Rott reports on how hard it is to get people out.
NATHAN ROTT, BYLINE: Krista Maney (ph) has a 4-wheeler she could use to check in on her neighbors or bring them food and supplies, but she prefers to walk.
KRISTA MANEY: I'm not a good driver (laughter). So I've already almost flipped one, so I better not flip another one and stuff, so.
ROTT: So we walk up the twisting dirt roads above Swannanoa, roads that were rebuilt-ish only a couple of hours earlier.
MANEY: This was just little pieces of road.
ROTT: Rivers of rainwater carved sections away. Tangles of downed trees blocked others.
MANEY: The landslides was these over here.
ROTT: Maney points at a smooth, glistening scar down the mountain. Bedrock - the trees, earth and mobile home that used to be there torn away.
MANEY: And it went all the way straight down there and hit that house, then it stopped.
ROTT: There wasn't anybody in it, was there?
MANEY: There was.
ROTT: A husband and wife, both killed.
MANEY: We found him that morning, and then the wife we found that night, washed up. It's crazy how you see somebody one day and then gone the next.
ROTT: But there are people still here, isolated, some stuck.
EDMUND COLEMAN: It's mostly, like, the older communities. They move there to retire and stuff.
ROTT: Edmund Coleman (ph) is helping run the community effort in Swannanoa to clear roads and get people out - or for those who don't want to leave, making sure they have everything they need, like food, water and, in the case of one guy that Coleman's helping, insulin.
COLEMAN: His name's Ron (ph). And Ron is - would very much like to die on that hill. And he's like, I'm not leaving - this is my home - which I respect. But at the same time, like, well, you don't have to die.
ROTT: Not everyone has the luxury to choose. Helicopters are still airlifting supplies into more rural parts of North Carolina. Supplies are being brought in to others by mules, horses and boat. North Carolina's Department of Transportation says around 500 roads are still closed across the state. Road crews are working to repair bridges, bypasses and highways. But in the more rural areas, like upland Swannanoa, it's volunteers...
(SOUNDBITE OF SAW WHIRRING)
ROTT: ...Sawing trees and plowing debris blocking a small dirt road. Jethro Raber (ph) is leading this effort.
JETHRO RABER: We're just trying to be a blessing, going around and freeing people up so they can get out and get out and about to their friends, to help others out, get out on the roads.
ROTT: He says everyone he's met here just wants to help each other out.
RABER: But if they're stuck in their homes, they can't do that.
ROTT: The work is endless and very much appreciated.
YEHUDA WOLCOFF: Yeah, today's the day to drive off (laughter) with a vehicle.
ROTT: The road clearing is allowing Yehuda Wolcoff (ph) to drive out for the first time since the storm.
WOLCOFF: You know, I'm really lucky, blessed, grateful to be here. You know, some of our neighbors, you know, didn't make it. And so I'm just grateful for each moment. And I'm definitely going to be grateful to have a little bit of a change in scenery now (laughter).
ROTT: I wish I could tell you to go take a shower and, you know, get a hot meal, but not a lot of that in Asheville, either.
WOLCOFF: I had a really nice hose shower this morning, so I'm feeling good.
ROTT: You got gussied up before you went to town (laughter)?
WOLCOFF: Oh, yeah. Exactly (laughter).
ROTT: Small joys amongst a lot of heartache.
Nathan Rott, NPR News, Swannanoa, N.C.
(SOUNDBITE OF DR DUNDIFF'S "THE PUZZLE") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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