‘We’ve lost everything.’ Western NC town of Clyde is rebuilding — again — after Helene

People in Clyde were rebuilding Saturday — again.

For many residents, it was their second time getting hit by a storm and having to start over. For some, it was the third. In 2021, Haywood County got hit by Tropical Storm Fred. Before that, Ivan in 2004.

But neither compared to what they saw after Helene, residents told The Charlotte Observer. Helene, which struck Florida as a Category 4 hurricane before dumping historic rain totals on western North Carolina as a tropical storm, washed out roads and brought untold damage to a swath of the state. Cellular networks and internet access remained limited.

The water line from flooding nearly reached the ceiling of a home on Broad Street in Clyde, where Brandon Patterson raked mud and trash out of his stepfather’s home.

Patterson’s stepfather, Tomas Quiroz, bought the house after Fred flooded it in 2021, hoping to fix it up.

Now he is back to square one, and his family says they will rebuild there.

Others on Broad Street were dealing with the same, familiar issues.

“We lost everything in the house just about,” said Denise Dean, who lived just a few doors down from Quiroz, and who’s lived on Broad Street for about eight years.

Unlike Quiroz, she’s moving somewhere with higher ground. She’s staying across the Pigeon River from her home after the storm. Her family has been in a hotel.

Nearby, husband and wife Lora and Mitch Nelson shoveled mud out of Lora’s salon and barber shop, Superior Cuts, on Depot Street.

“That building never flooded before, if that tells you anything. They said FEMA and the National Guard are coming. But people’ve got livelihoods,” said Mitch Nelson.

Lora Nelson’s shop is plastered with mud. It’s surrounded by buildings trashed by Helene. She’s not sure how she’ll be self-employed.

“It’s devastating,” she said.

There were some silver linings Saturday for people in Clyde.

Amy Russell and Lisa Monteith had about a dozen customers who, without any phone calls possible, just showed up to help.

Their pet food and dog training business flooded heavily — so much so that a bag of dog food found its way into someone’s house on another street. They had the store for about three years, and already dealt with the “little flood,” said Russell. There wasn’t so much water then.

“We weren’t expecting this,” she said. “It’s so heartbreaking.”

Russell said they’re planning to reopen the smaller shop for dog grooming and training, just around the corner, and move the retail inside that location.

Her customers helped to clean out both locations.

“Lisa says that a customer becomes a friend before a friend becomes a customer,” Russell said.

This story was originally published September 28, 2024 at 5:16 PM.

Ryan Oehrli

The Charlotte Observer

Ryan Oehrli writes about criminal justice for The Charlotte Observer. His reporting has delved into police misconduct, jail and prison deaths, the state’s pardon system and more. He was also part of a team of Pulitzer finalists who covered Hurricane Helene. A North Carolina native, he grew up in Beaufort County.