Photo by WNC
by Jon Franklin
HOME WRECKED
It’s been a while since I last posted an article here on HillsboroughSports.com. During my period of abeyance, I was very much busy in PA announcing games at Cedar Ridge, occasionally broadcasting Orange and Cedar Ridge games on the website, and of course, working my job in various public services.
Throughout my time writing various editions of The Franklin Mint and on-air, I’ve often recalled fond memories of past games from my hometown of Marion, McDowell County, and throughout Western North Carolina as they are near and dear to me.
Yet, two weeks ago as a result of the devastation of Hurricane Helene, the areas I called home are almost unrecognizable. In some parts, they’ve disappeared.
Marion, Old Fort, and McDowell County were a part of a huge swath of territory along with Asheville, Boone, Burnsville, Chimney Rock / Lake Lure, Marshall, Newland, Spruce Pine, Swannanoa, and others were devastated due to the immense flooding. Massive recovery and humanitarian efforts are ongoing, continuing to help those ravaged by this terrible event.
In Marion, homes, roads, land, and businesses located near a body of water were decimated as Buck Creek, the Catawba River, Goose Creek, Lake James, Lake Tahoma, Toms Creek, Peppers Creek, and the Second Broad River all sprawled out of their banks, taking out everything in sight. The northwestern part of Marion located along the Catawba near McDowell High School became impassable, cutting off Marion from the northern part of the county.
Also affected was Old Fort, which also became inaccessible. Old Fort is the location source of the Catawba and the namesake of the mountain on Interstate 40 that was victim of a large landslide, cutting off Western North Carolina to the rest of the state.
In the wake of the devastation, the Baxter plant in the northern part of McDowell in North Cove – manufacturer of 80% of intravenous bags and fluids used in healthcare and McDowell’s largest employer – abruptly ceased production due to mudslides and the floodwaters entering into their sterile environment. The bridges and access roads on all sides of their immense property were destroyed as a result of the nearby raging Peppers Creek and the Catawba’s north fork. Normally, this plant churns out more than twenty million IV bags each day, ranging from half-liter field bags to the six-gallon bags used in dialysis. Efforts at Baxter’s home base in Illinois are ongoing to ramp up production other Baxter plants so that the world’s healthcare facilities are not impacted.
Many of you know that I previously worked for many years as a corrections officer in our state and federal prisons. Oddly enough, the four state facilities that I worked at in WNC while employed with the NC Department of Correction have all evacuated their inmates and relocated them to facilities unaffected. The timetable of restoring power, sewer, and water services to these institutions are unclear as the infrastructure to these facilities must be rebuilt.
Nothing was more crushing than to witness than the total destruction of the villages of Chimney Rock & Lake Lure in nearby Rutherford County. This serene and tranquil area located thirty minutes from my childhood home, was often a fun place to go to during the summer. On a hot day, nothing beat taking a dip in the ponding cold water at the summit of the Hickory Nut Falls or to just take in the views from the rock itself. The Village Scoop was another favorite of mine to enjoy an ice cream after a day of adventure.
Chimney Rock was featured in the 1992 epic film, The Last of The Mohicans that starred Daniel Day-Lewis and was based off of the 1826 novel of the same name by James Fenimore Cooper. Lake Lure was featured in many of the scenes of the 1987 smash romance drama Dirty Dancing, starring the late Patrick Swayze. But after Helene’s fury, the quaint shops, restaurants, and small businesses that lined NC 9 are now reduced to rubble or relocated to the waters of Lake Lure.
If you’re wondering, I have been in communication with family and friends. My parents are safe, but have slight damage to their home. My sister had major structural damage to her house, but she and her family are also alive and well. Other family and friends are in similar situations, but are safe. As fate would have it, my brother-in-law is one of the leading insurance agents in McDowell County and had been looking forwards to retirement. But now, he has enough work to keep him and his agency in business for an exceptionally long period of time. While my family was relatively unscathed despite being without power and cell phone service for nearly ten days, others are currently without power and cell service, now more than two weeks removed. Other families weren’t so lucky as their homes and roads were obliterated – and even lost loved ones.
But as Western North Carolina was dealt a dirty hand, the rock-solid resolve of its’ people never wavered and became lifelines to their family, friends, and neighbors.
My home church, Marion’s New Manna Baptist Church, along with other places of worship in McDowell, have stepped up to support their own by transforming their facilities into shelters serving hot meals, receiving and distribution centers for food, water, and supplies, and becoming relief stations for first responders and linemen. Other relief agencies such as Baptists on Mission, Hearts with Hands, and Samaritan’s Purse are supplementing their efforts by ensuring their work is not in vain or depleted of resources.
Such supplementation came from our nearby area. Lee’s 24-Hour Towing of Durham, has utilized their fleet of trucks to haul trailers of food, water, and supplies all over the mountains. Fredrickson Aviation based out of Timberlake, has airlifted supplies to inaccessible areas of WNC using the Burlington-Alamance Regional Airport as their hub of operation.
But come Hell or High Water, the work must continue to help our families, friends, and neighbors in Western North Carolina.
If you have supported any these causes by donating blood, food, water, supplies, finances, or even your time to help load a vehicle with supplies, I can speak for the thousands of Mountaineers to say thank you for supporting some of the finest people you’ll ever meet. If the roles were reversed from our area, they would be the first to help us in our time of need. Please continue these efforts as they have a long road ahead of them.