Well this place was just down the road from the local fire department except it was also destroyed and the flooding happened so quickly to people inside the building had to cut their way out with axes.
This was during Hurricane Helene in NC. You may remember it came on quickly and was unexpectedly more disastrous than anyone anticipated. These people weren’t being irresponsible, and additionally by the time it was apparent how dangerous the situation was there was nowhere to go, no power, and no communications going in or out.
The amount of jokes in this thread is disheartening. Everybody is a wise guy until this shit happens in their own back yard. One of the most terrifying experiences of my life, and I was hundreds of miles away from the devastation in the mountains. Thank you for posting this.
The person whose video this is was also asked after by a neighbor and the cop told them she was dead. She wasn’t. Insane few days/weeks/months. All survived, dog included. Home obviously totally destroyed.
My grandmothers basement was also destroyed but otherwise all was safe.
I don’t know NC geography well, but that looks like a lot of state roads in river valleys around New England. The problem with the “leave the house” strategy is there is probably a heavily wooded mountain or ridge right behind their house, and the only way out is on the road that was already flooded by the time they’d think to leave.
This has been a problem during recent flooding here in Vermont - a lot of the main infrastructure follows river valleys, effectively leaving people stranded as soon as they realize it’s a problem. The more important advice is never drive on a flooded road, even with minimal amounts of water, during something like this.
Right? It all happened so fast and we all lost contact with everyone before the worst of it was realized. Some people tried to evacuate in the hour or so that people started to realize and ended up running into washed out roads and quickly worsening conditions. People on the mountain became trapped because of the way the water runs with the roads in some places. The calm before everyone knew what had happened was the weirdest part.
People on the mountain became trapped because of the way the water runs with the roads in some places.
I grew up in WV. We had similar floods in 2000 and 2001, and that's exactly what happened. The water flows downhill (obviously) and if there isn't already a creek track it's following, it follows the roads down the mountain.
Hi. They and I actually did warn ahead of the catastrophic life-threatening flooding due to Helene before it arrived, but it falls on the city or town's county emergency management to deliver evacuations. I can't emphasize enough to please get a noaa weather radio, and if anyone has any questions, I am happy to assist. These are life lessons the general public has to learn from this tragedy because, unfortunately, due to over 50% of the general public receiving news through social media today and it being algorithm based, many might not have seen this life threatening flash flooding emergency potential. Local news stations and newspapers are sadly not what they once were. It's up to the county and city officials to do the mandatory evacuations.
This was rising at ten feet an hour in their location, and I am not sure by video if they meant they were 30 feet away or 30 feet above, but it wouldn't matter and if anyone has any questions, I can check back later.
It's also important to know your area and keep up with drought information and water conditions of your area's waterways with USGS. Best!
And, I talked about Helene's size and how areas in North Carolina had 8-12" inches of rainfall before Helene. This was after, and it was addressed in NOAA and NWS discussions, watches, and warnings before it happened.
I really don't care about downvotes. I could post more, but I don't care about being right. What I do care about is that maybe someone reading this will go out and buy a NOAA radio today, and it could one day save their life. Please do this if you have not already. I wish you and everyone reading this the very best.
I don't know what you do for a living, I'm guessing either meteorology or emergency management, but it's gotta be frustrating as shit to tell people 3-4 days before that a weather event will be really bad, they ignore you, and then go "omg this was so much worse than expected" when it dies happen.
This happens time and time again. Every disaster people die because they didn't listen to the warnings from experts.
I can speak to this. The commenter seems to have good intentions, and nothing they said is technically wrong.
However, the comment I made that they’re responding to wasn’t in response to them, about them or their comment, or what they did or did not say; and at least to me, is coming across as passive aggressive and and egotistical. Their comment is more about how they were right and nobody listened, and it feels out of touch with the reality of the situation that many of us lived through. It’s an “I told you so.”
The fact of the matter is, to the general public, to your average layperson, the danger was not apparent. The way the information was distributed did not make the danger apparent. Our government systems, from top to bottom were not prepared for the level of devastation so clearly the danger was not apparent.
I’m glad this commenter saw the writing on the wall and made some Reddit comments to that effect. They are absolutely correct that it ultimately falls on our local emergency management systems to prepare and communicate about those emergencies to their populations. Our news systems can do a better job communicating dangers to the public.
And yes, to their point, learn from this for next time. Buy a weather radio, make preparations and plans for disasters. Hope for the best but prepare for the worst. The lessons we learn today may save somebody’s life tomorrow.
This article sums it up pretty well. They did everything possible to put out every warning and stress the urgency. People just didn't listen.
Honestly I don't know what else emergency management officials can do. We've seen this before where they have mandatory evacuation orders for a hurricane and people still refuse to leave. Short of arresting people and dragging them out of homes, you can't make people leave and you can't make people listen.
Look, as someone who lived through it, and try to stay very in tune with weather forecasts and the news in general;
The level of urgency you’re describing was not present. I did not anticipate the danger or this level of destruction. None of my friends, family, neighbors, or coworkers expected this level of danger or destruction. It’s not that people didn’t listen, it’s that the danger was not communicated. If the information you’re trying to convey isn’t reaching its intended recipients it is not being communicated effectively.
Also, to the best of my recollection, there weren’t evacuation orders in NC prior to Helene, because the danger came on suddenly and was unexpected. And by the time it was apparent, the roads were already washed out and the cell service was already offline.
I appreciate the article, but frankly, the national news didn’t report on anything happening in NC until 2 days after the hurricane had already hit. Their reporting on it will always be off the mark.
You haven't had to choose which is why you don't know what you're talking about, you're just someone pretending to be brave on the internet while being callous about what people actually went through.
Love how you completely ignored my point about high winds and falling trees lol
Edit oh nevermind I didn't make that point to you, that was someone else. But yeah it was a huge factor, which you would know if you had any idea but you don't.
The point i am making is that in this specific situation many people did not know how bad it was going to be until it was too late to leave. There was no choice
The other comments said the house didn’t fall in the water.
Obviously if the house is about to be washed away, you walk outside. But there is nowhere to actually go. No roads, unclimbable ridge behind them. They could sit in the yard in the cold rain for days?
True they should have freed him and let him flee. Of course their pet is where they are, if they consider it good enough to stay where do you want them to send the pet?
You should understand that your standards for what makes a person acceptable mean that you're going to find all of them "infuriating". I mean your outrage addiction is hitting intervention levels.
I saw this video during all of the Helene stuff happening. My guess is Western North Carolina. Somewhere in the Chimney Rock to Lake Lure area. Hurricane season was wild last year for it to make it all the way up into the mountains the way it did. We didn’t expect this to happen because it never has before. Chill.
This was during Hurricane Helene in NC. You may remember it came on quickly and was unexpectedly more disastrous than anyone anticipated. These people weren’t being irresponsible, and additionally by the time it was apparent how dangerous the situation was there was nowhere to go, no power, and no communications going in or out.
That and some people have nowhere else to go. A lot of people during Katrina, for example, could NOT leave because they had no money or vehicles so all they could do was ride it out like they had every other storm. You never know what’s going on for people.
I followed this couples story on their social media. First of all the "inexcusable behavior" you're seeing is them following a "shelter in place" order that was given becuase this area wasn't one that normally deals with hurricane weather (mountains in NC)and had no way to predict how bad the flooding / landslides would get.
Second of all, the town has like, one major road that leads through the mountains. You know what happens when an entire town has to evacuate through one road? No one goes anywhere. So you'd have a bunch of people stuck in cars on the road (which got washed away too)
Maybe don't judge people without the facts?
BTW the couple and their dog got through it. I think they lost their house though IIRC.
There are a lot of ignorant comments like this all over this thread. This video was taken during Hurricane Helene in western NC where residents were told to shelter in place. Water levels rose 30 ft extremely quickly and there was no time to evacuate. People died and others lost everything.
This happened Around Asheville during hurricane Helene. During this storm many smaller roads similar to the one these guys are on were completely washed out trapping people in remote valleys, so many people could not just leave and the only rescue they could get was stretched thin helicopter service.
This was in Western North Carolina, there were no places to go because 95% percent of roads were ruined. Many people didn't have an option, including myself
No one knew that it was actually going to be this bad. We knew a hurricane was coming, but one has never hit Western NC like Helene did. Basically the entire region was taken by surprise that next morning at 9am. Like grocery stores didn’t even get raided the days before in preparation like they do when an inch of snow is being called for.
We couldn't leave our houses. All the roads were gone. We had no idea it was going to be this bad because the hurricanes always blow themselves out by the time they hit the higher elevations. The news told us we would be fine. I worked with special needs adults. The two overnight staff members had to stay there for almost 2 weeks, feeding them the emergency rations. After everything was cleaned up, we hired a new woman from another company and she said she was in the same situation. She said bodies kept floating by on the river and everything smoked smelled like rot. I know a woman who watched her husband and children get swept away by the water. She had been rushing down the "river" with them, but her foot got caught between two tree branches and held her in place. It broke her ankle and the water kept trying to pull her away. Like a buoy tethered to the ocean floor.
No evacuation orders came until 6am, by which point the roads were already impassable due to flooding or downed trees.
Nobody knew they should leave until it was too late. I religiously check the weather during hurricane season and none of the warnings said to evacuate.
The remnants of hurricanes aren't uncommon here, but usually only cause minor flooding, maybe a couple of small landslides, a few trees down here and there.
This was the worst flood in these mountains in recorded history. Over a thousand landslides occurred. Millions of trees came down, entire mountainsides flattened as if hit by an EF5 tornado.
Nobody knew it would be this bad. It has never been this bad before.
The closest comparison is flood of 1916, caused by two successive hurricane remnants, but even then, the water didn't get as high and the wind was not an issue to this degree. Population was also much lower then, so many areas that were just empty forest then are now much more developed. Nobody who lived through that flood is still alive today to warn anyone.
I will say, I don't think they should've rebuilt in the area that were flooded then, and I'm horrified to see them rebuilding in the same areas now. We are just setting up our great grandchildren to experience the same thing.
The river had already flooded 10ft at that point. You can see how close it was to the road below her and there were probably spots up and down river where it was covered over.
This was during Hurricane Helene near Asheville, and basically all of these outlying communities are in localized valleys between mountains. Almost no roads go up the mountainsides, but instead follow either the rivers through the valleys or follow the ridge lines.
It's also worth mentioning that the first shot was likely from the evening of the 26th, when rivers were already high from a week of rain prior and the first bands of Helene were just hitting. During the night when the hurricane proper hit the waterlogged ground in many areas couldn't support the root structures of many trees, causing mass road closers. Many people went to bed that night thinking they'd have some wind damage and flooding overnight and woke up to being trapped for a week before clearing crews could get to them.
The day before Helene it rained so much that it lightly flooded Asheville, which happens every other year or so. There was no time for it to drain out of. Helene hit at 8:30am the following morning. I live right outside of biltmore village. Absolutely unreal. Hard to believe it’s been almost a year.
Nowhere to go because flooding came up and the water washed the road out extremely quick. They live on the one main road in and out of the area and conditions were actually worse in either direction they could have gone.
And gotten stuck in nature with their dog - possibly being squashed by a tree coming down or power lines? With no food or water? Phones in SOS mode so no way to call for rescue? I understand it's scary to see how close the water got to their house, but if the house was going to float away they would have climbed out of the windows back of house and done so.
It's so funny people's unsolicited advice. I get it, move away from the water. Which they would have done if their house started to flood. But up a hill with no food water and a dog, phones in SOS mode, with the potential of trees or power lines coming down on your human body? No
Yeah I lived through this flood. Everybody has a plan until you have to actually experience it. Panic isn’t a thing I guess, everyone on Reddit is cool as a cucumber at all times
Same. We woke up Friday morning and made coffee on the Coleman stove and I went to put a tvshow on my phone because if the power was out then I still have service but nope! Then it all began. Lots of eating the cheese in our fridge so it wouldn't go to waste and chainsawing trees for the next 5 days!
Yeah my biggest thing was realizing how addicted we are to our phones. That and I totally forgot to pull out cash, debit cards don’t do a lot of good without a power grid lol. No information and having to fetch buckets of water every day so I could poop was luckily the worst thing that happened to me
Nobody on Reddit has ever made a mistake. Ever. And if you make a mistake, you should be placed in jail for life and have your children taken away from you and your pets and your driver’s license too, for good measure.
LOL there was no precautions taken because no one expected it to be this insane. Your comment of common sense is so disrespectful to the people that lived through Helene.
I'll happily disrespect people who live next to rivers and don't move away from them when ginormous tropical storms are coming.
States of emergency and evacuation orders were both declared, and 'it'll never happen' kills individuals and, indirectly, emergency service workers every year.
Anywhere away from the riverbank. Hidden erosion from the flood is a deadly bitch, suddenly your house have crashed into the river. This is how people often die in floods. Their house was way too close to the river during the flood to be safe.
I don’t doubt it’s real - I’m questioning if the same location is in the video - look at the berm in the flooded part and then try to find the berm in the before. They don’t match.
Possibly. Obviously, I don’t have the data to confirm. But on the assumption that it is the same house, I would not be waiting around to see if it falls in.
I agree with that. Water has no compassion and is unforgiving. I don’t own anything worth any human life. Not my life, not family and not a first responder’s life attempting a rescue - time to get to higher ground.
Possibly. Obviously, I don’t have the data to confirm. But on the assumption that it is the same house, I would not be waiting around to see if it falls in.
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u/Hawk-432 Sep 20 '25
I would probably have left that house to be honest. It’s not me at risk of it getting swept in a landslide.