Extension Plays Vital Role in Helene Recovery

It would be nearly impossible to not know about the devastation that Western North Carolina faced due to the Sept. 26 arrival of Hurricane Helene. There are endless stories of disaster, adversity and hardship, as well as stories of miracles, ingenuity and strength.

In truth, these stories will continue long after news outlets have moved along to find fresh content. The work in our mountains is far from over, and I feel a great responsibility and privilege in sharing stories of N.C. Cooperative Extension’s work throughout the region.

I visited Western North Carolina 10 days after Helene struck the area, and what I found was community – the likes of which I have not experienced since 9/11. I found people holding each other upright in the midst of unfathomable loss. It did not matter who they were – Extension staff; local, state or federal government; emergency services from across the nation; and every denomination, nationality, race or creed. People: At once victim, rescuer, helper, consoler and rebuilder.

There were growers who left their damaged farms for days because their jobs as volunteer firefighters and paramedics came first. And parents, not knowing if their adult children lived or died because of the total absence of communication systems, who went to work to save others while setting their desperate worries aside. Then there were the shell-shocked homeowners who lost everything except their humanity, but still showed up to help others.

These stories deserve to be told through a personal lens for our friends and neighbors who, more than a month out from the storm, still face a world of unknowns. But there is one absolute certainty: they will prevail.

Madison County

Elizabeth Ayers, director of the N.C. Cooperative Extension Madison County Center, is at the helm of an extensive hurricane recovery center, coordinating 50 to 60 volunteers each day, directing her Extension staff who are working from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily, and sending excess supplies and volunteers to secondary recovery sites around the county and into neighboring Yancey County.

“The outpouring [of support] from our community and from neighbors that we will never get to thank in person is overwhelming. The resources that have hit the ground are unreal,” she said. “Every time I thought we wouldn’t have enough help, more came through the doors.”

Donated supplies fill the Extension center in Madison County.

Extension’s Madison County Center sits on a mountain in the middle of a broad field with the county fairgrounds situated just above it. It is an ideal location for what became the county’s primary disaster recovery and distribution center, far above the French Broad River that winds through the county. Around 21,000 people call Madison County home.

At the time of my visit, helicopters were regularly landing in the fairground area, loading and unloading, picking up whatever needed to be delivered to the most hard-to-reach areas of the region. More than 300 deliveries of goods were counted in those first 10 days – brought by helicopter, tractor trailer, U-haul and car.

Ayers found a willing helper and co-leader in Ross Young, former director of Extension’s Madison County Center. No longer with Extension but still working for the county, Young had 31 years of Extension experience that he used to jump in and run the agricultural segment of the recovery efforts. “Extension has been the rock through all of this,” he said.

In addition to the helicopter landing zone, Young set up the fairgrounds with trucks holding round and rectangular bales of hay, feed of all kinds, and fencing supplies. Farmers simply pulled up and drove through, stopping where they saw their needed supplies. National Guard members helped to load supplies and direct traffic, keeping the process efficient and safe.

”The days have really run together,” said Cathy Brackins, Extension 4-H program assistant. Brackins, along with every staff member of the N.C. Cooperative Extension Madison County Center, has worked at the site since the weather cleared. “Initially we were serving the most basic needs like food and water, but now people need cleaning supplies.”

Marshall, the county seat in Madison, was one of the hardest hit towns in Western North Carolina. The French Broad River lies to one side of the once picturesque Marshall downtown area, and a mountainside rises up on the other. It is a singular street, with quaint stores and a beautiful municipal building, that you might say is caught between a rock and a wet spot.

Thanks to Helene dumping between 10 and 30 inches of rain across the rugged landscape in less than 24 hours, the U.S. Geological Survey reports that the French Broad River near Marshall rose to more than 20 feet, jumping its banks and inundating the downtown area with fast flowing, debris-filled water. For context, the minor flood stage for this location starts when the river reaches around 8 feet while the major flood stage begins at 13.

The storm left a bevy of feelings in its wake for locals. “The emotion comes and goes – [we are] sometimes squalling, sometimes joking,” Brackins said.

Brackins’ colleague Magen Caldwell-Woody, Extension administrative assistant for the Madison County Center added, “The positivity out of this negative has been great. We have National Guardsmen and active duty military helping out and we are very proud of our youth. They are out here helping – loading and unloading, sorting and packing. We have had entire [athletic] teams from the local high school and university to just show up and help.”

And the 4-H youth of Madison County have put their service mindset to work as well.

“We have had so many 4-H members here helping. They help serve food, they receive donations and pack deliveries for community centers,” said Misty Varnell, Extension 4-H youth development agent. “With 4-H, the youth have learned how to interact with all ages of people and they have learned how to work with people. You give them a task and they go do it – they are ready to work and eager to serve.”

The disaster has inspired innovation as neighbors look for ways to help neighbors navigate the situation. For example, the Farm Connection, a nursery and garden center in Marshall, established a GoFundMe page that helped to pay farmers for food that would go bad due to lack of power to the coolers that keep it fresh. That food was purchased, delivered to the Extension center and charitable organizations, prepared by staff and volunteers, and then used to feed volunteers, staff, military, linemen and others. To date that page has raised more than $235,000 for local farms.

Misty Varnell and Peyton Duckett record the donations that flow through the Madison County hurricane response center.

Peyton Duckett, Extension livestock and consumer horticulture agent, said the Madison County farming community is made up of a lot of small farms, just under 300 as reported by the 2022 USDA Census of Agriculture.

“Many of our farms converted from tobacco years ago to small beef cattle farms,” she said, noting that most of the farmers also work full time jobs away from the farm. “They are trying to figure out what to do next. They are just beginning to determine if they need help – what the extent of their damage is.”

Adding insult to injury, Helene roared through Madison County just before fair weekend, usually an exciting time when 4-H members get to show off their hard work and dedication through the dairy heifer and pullet projects showmanship exhibitions.

“This year there was no show,” Duckett said. “There was no opportunity to say goodbye to the heifers.” Since my visit, however, both projects have rescheduled their shows for Friday, November 15.

Avery County

Driving into Avery County it was impossible to miss the stacks of bottled water that were stowed in every nook and cranny of this 274-square-mile county – outside of churches and municipal buildings, in the middle of fields, outside of businesses, even along the roadside with “free” signs. Bottled water filled four hangars at the airport in Banner Elk.

It was easy to locate the dusty warehouse right off of Linville Highway where Extension personnel had set up a drive-through distribution center for local growers and hobby farmers to gather animal feed, supplies and block or round bales of hay.

N.C. Cooperative Extension strike teams from across the state supported WNC agents and staff in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene.

Cole Maness, Extension agriculture agent in Guilford County, was part of an Extension ‘strike team,’ a group of volunteer agents from across the state providing relief to local agents in the weeks following the hurricane.

“It is pretty devastating,” Maness said of the farming community in Avery County. “Most livestock farmers are struggling, they are out of grass and using their winter feed supply. Support for these farms is going to take months.”

Maness described efforts being made to help farmers recover. “We’re bringing in cover crop seeds that drone operators are broadcasting. Animals can graze the cover crops and these crops can also hold what is left of the topsoil. With frost setting in soon it is going to get serious pretty quick,” he said.

But amidst the stories of struggle and hardship the Avery County team found ways to be cheerful, recounting efforts to help catch a pot-bellied pig, as well as the revelation, brought about by feed distribution, that there are a lot more backyard chickens, emu, alpaca and llamas than anyone expected.

Michelle South, Extension area agent for livestock, organized and launched the Linville Highway distribution center. South is her own little hurricane of activity – asserting her will to make order out of chaos, driven by a single-minded desire to help every grower, every person in need in her jurisdiction.

“There’s no lines here – it is whoever needs it,” she said while directing a South Carolina farmer donating a truckload of hay directly to a farmer in need.

“The [strike team] agents have been a Godsend. We need manpower and sanity – we are just tired,” she said as a flock of people followed her outside with questions, clipboards, and phone calls on hold.

In addition to livestock feed, pet food was a much needed resource as residents and farmers visited disaster recovery centers like this one in Avery County.

One of South’s fears is that donations will trickle to a stop while farmers don’t have enough feed to get through the winter. “They have lost their second cutting or winter pastures so the whole year is going to be a problem,” she said. Extension is looking to seed companies for assistance in helping to re-establish grazable land.

But her greatest worry is for the farmers themselves. “We need mental support for our producers – they’ve lost their farms, their homes, their feed. One fifth-generation farmer is selling off his 80 head [of cattle] – he’s done. There is a lot of uncertainty and risk in farming even in good times,” South said.

Avery County is also home to many Christmas tree farms. In fact, the county is the second largest producer of the conifers in the state.

Following Helene, Jerry Moody, director of Extension’s Avery County Center, found himself working logistics alongside the state DOT to figure out how to move 1,000 tractor trailer loads of trees out of an area where the infrastructure was decimated by the storm.

And in the case of the pick-your-own tree operations, getting customers in to select and cut their trees is a challenge that Moody and Extension are still working to solve. Second to the personal safety of residents and visitors, the goal is to prioritize repair of roads that can support the traffic to keep the industry running.

Read More: Extending a Helping Hand in Helene Recovery

Washed out roads create challenges as Western North Carolina farmers begin to harvest and ship Christmas trees following Hurricane Helene.

While tree farmers did suffer losses due to landslides, flooding and winds, the most significant potential danger to their crops won’t be evident until the trees emerge from their dormant season in the spring. Moody explained that since the trees were dormant when the hurricane hit, they can be harvested this year with no visible or immediate ill effects. However, root damage and disease resulting from wind and water may put future harvests at risk.

McDowell County

Janet Bryan, EFNEP educator in McDowell County, waited out the hurricane at her home just off Buck Creek when flood waters filled her basement, taking out her HVAC and water heater, leaving 3 feet of mud in its wake. One phone call later and every member of the Extension family at the McDowell County Center showed up with shovels, squeegees and cleaning supplies to dig Bryan’s family home out of the muck.

“Everyone just showed up – the entire office pitched in to scoop out the sludge,” she said. “I am still shell shocked – it was like quicksand mud.”

It is no surprise, with a team like this one, that the entire staff has spent long days at the Marion distribution center helping farmers with their recovery efforts.

Janet Bryan and Skyler Murrary load feed for farmers at the McDowell County hurricane disaster recovery center.

Skyler Murray, livestock and field crops agent for Extension in McDowell County, is responsible for setting up and maintaining the agricultural distribution center.

“Our farmers have mostly sheep, goats and chickens, and many lost fences in the flooding. It’s nice to do something like this and give them the tools they need to build back,” she said, adding that T-posts and barbed and woven wire are given out as soon as the donations come in.

Rolls of barbed wire are one of the most requested products as farmers round up wandering livestock.

“This has been hard for them, especially since many of our farmers are older, but they have really come together as a community,” Murray said.

“The outreach from volunteers and donors has been amazing,” said Chad Ray, Extension 4-H youth development agent, noting that some donations have come from sources they could never predict. “We received a donation, probably twenty to thirty thousand dollars in fencing materials, from an Amish community in Maryland,” he said. The generous donors have promised to return with additional supplies at a later date.

The recovery contributions of the McDowell County team are not just limited to feed and supplies – the intangible support is essential as well. In the words of Heather Peek, Extension administrative assistant, “Listening to people talk is one of the biggest things we can do.”

A Special Thank You

I would like to share my appreciation with the West District of N.C. Cooperative Extension. I visited several counties where, due to lack of GPS, cell service and internet, I was unable to connect directly with Extension staff who were spread out doing the important work of recovery.

In the words shared with me by residents of your community, I know your presence has been felt and recognized. Thank you for all that you do.