As Western North Carolina’s colleges and universities consider a semester after Helene, countless questions arise. Where are our students, our faculty? How many still have housing? Did we evacuate responsibly? Are residence halls safe to return to? Is it safe to ask them to come back, considering the state of the roads? If we continue online, do students and faculty have the internet connection to be able to keep up?
No colleges have reported any injuries or fatalities, though UNC Asheville is still working to account for some of its students. A tree fell on a student-filled residence hall at Lees-McRae college in Avery County, but no one was hurt.
Montreat College and Warren Wilson College in eastern Buncombe County experienced some of the most severe damage to campus. Neither is planning for campus operations to resume until later this month.
The mental health of students following the trauma of Helene is top of mind for college administrators. Many students spent days in darkened dorms, without running water or the ability to communicate with the outside world. Some volunteered in their communities, bearing witness to devastation, desperation and even death.
Physical health — and the ability to continue their education at all — is also a concern, as many students who lived off-campus have lost their homes and all of their possessions.
Appalachian State, UNC Asheville and Western Carolina University set up disaster relief funds to which the public can contribute.
Montreat College
Paul Maurer, the president of Montreat College, was on a flight back home from South Korea the day Helene struck Western North Carolina. He spent days trying to get back to campus.
“There was no way in and out of Western North Carolina for about 36 hours,” Maurer told Carolina Public Press. “It had become an island.”
Montreat College, a Christian school of about 1,000 students in Buncombe County, is located in Montreat, a town just east of Swannanoa and Black Mountain. In this region of Buncombe County, Helene’s winds, rain, and flooding were particularly unforgiving.
When Maurer finally got back to campus, he was met with a terrifying scene. Down trees and broken power lines leaned precariously over flood waters, which he said flowed with unimaginable force. Old stone buildings and campus landscaping were hidden underneath the rushing flood.
“Students and faculty experienced real trauma,” Maurer said. “The loss of life is significant in our region. It is traumatic to see people’s homes literally wash away — or having your home wash away, losing all your possessions. These are not just disruptive, they are traumatizing.”
Montreat College’s insurance company is estimating $1.6 million in damage, though Maurer believes this number will rise nearer to two million dollars. At least 10 campus buildings have been severely damaged: windows, carpets, ceilings, and students’ belongings all suffered, he said.
Mercifully, no students or staff were injured. An evacuation was deemed unsafe, so everyone sheltered in place during the storm. By the following Monday, all students had been safely moved off campus.
“Our campus gymnasium is located right next to a creek — a benign, babbling mountain creek on a normal day, just about a foot deep,” Maurer said. “It became a raging river. That river found its way into our gymnasium, and really, the gymnasium was a part of the river on Friday. There was five and a half feet of water.”
Repairing the gym will be a major project, and Maurer thinks it will remain unusable for the rest of the academic year.
Water and power were back at Montreat as of last weekend, but according to Maurer, the water pressure is very low. Only a few of the eight wells that make up the Montreat Water System are back online.
Maurer hopes for students to be back on campus by Oct. 21. In the meantime, they’ll continue courses online. “We know that educationally, 18- to 20-year-olds learn much, much better in a face-to-face setting,” Maurer said. “Covid taught everyone that.”
Warren Wilson College
Warren Wilson College, a private school with a student population of about 750 and a campus of 1,100 acres, is located in Swannanoa, just 12 miles down the road from Montreat College.
Almost two weeks after the storm, Warren Wilson is still without power or running water.
A Buncombe County Facebook post described the situation in Swannanoa as “unimaginable.” An unincorporated area along the Swannanoa River between Asheville and Black Mountain in eastern Buncombe County, much of Swannanoa has been inundated by swollen river and its tributaries.
College president Damián Fernández told Carolina Public Press that the campus fared better than the rest of their immediate area. Fernández estimates that 30% of all campus buildings sustained some level of serious damage.
“But beyond us,” he said, “the landscape has been one of devastation. Homes are lost. Mobile homes have just rolled away. Power lines are down. It is without a confirmed pattern — these things happen in natural disasters. One house is fine, and the one next door is severely compromised, with roof damage or just completely taken off its foundation.”
Fernández told CPP that local government officials never communicated with college leadership to evacuate campus, and almost all remained on campus through the storm. They ordered additional food, water and portable toilets, and braced themselves.
“Our students love this place and they didn’t want to leave,” Fernández said. “Our strategy was self-reliance. We did not want to draw resources away from larger communities in need.”
Quickly, things escalated beyond what they had anticipated. Two roads lead to Warren Wilson’s campus, each with a bridge. On the first day of the storm, one was underwater and the other had collapsed.
With roads impassable and water utilities not working, Warren Wilson staff opened an emergency well of non-potable water on Saturday evening, which they boiled and used for dish washing and toilet flushing.
On Sunday evening, students and staff fell victim to what Fernández called a “hoax:” college administrators received false information that a nearby dam had failed, supposedly bringing massive amounts of water toward campus. They moved all students out of their dorms and onto higher ground on the campus soccer field.
“That was horrible,” Fernández said. “It was a very long 30 minutes in the pitch dark after a long day. It was quite draining and difficult for everyone in the community. We didn’t find any humor in it at all, and I hope they find whoever did it.”
Fernández recalled one particularly difficult moment from that Sunday night: “Warren Wilson has about 30 rental units where faculty and staff live. One elderly couple who served the college many years ago still lives with us. The woman was on the second floor of one of our stone houses, and neighbors came to help her down the stairs. She’s compromised in her ability to walk, and she said ‘Leave me behind, I’m old.’ The neighbors would not leave her behind.
“All of this, just to confirm that it wasn’t true.” Shaken students were instructed to return to their dorms.
Warren Wilson is a work college, so every student performs some function on campus. They have a 200-acre campus farm, and the turned livestock loose before the storm so that animals wouldn’t be trapped in rising waters. Fernández said no campus cattle died and about 85% of the pigs survived.
Fernández choked up when discussing the students’ efforts after the storm.
“A senior business major, Soph, was rescuing livestock,” Fernández said. “A sophomore, Phineas, was helping to feed 700 people the day after the storm. The flush crew — they call themselves the poop crew — were filling containers so we could all flush. They were not afraid. An environmental studies student crafted a system to reuse gray water. Everyone worked creatively.
“This is an American story for our times. I have hope, and I believe that higher education contributes to resilience if we teach students to learn by doing.”
For now, all but 10 students have left campus. Those who remain are attending to farm and campus operations.
“We need power and water,” Fernández said.
“We are in mitigation mode. We have partners who have portable generators. We are working to dry out buildings and bring in industrial hygienists. We’re going through an exhaustive and comprehensive process of determining damage.”
If water and power are restored in the next two weeks, Fernández hopes to bring students back in person by Oct. 21. If not, classes will resume virtually that Monday, with the hope to be back in person by Oct. 28.
UNC Asheville
Within 72 hours of the storm, all students were evacuated from UNC Asheville’s campus. There are ongoing efforts to account for each of UNC Asheville’s 3,846 students. Many remain without access to the internet, unable to confirm their safety. Still, the university hopes to resume classes by Oct. 28.
No financial estimate of damages to campus is available yet, but administrators say damage to campus buildings is not severe. Their main hurdles are the same as the wider city of Asheville: roads, powerlines and water.
“As we move forward, we are at the mercy of the water supply lines on campus,” UNC Asheville’s spokesperson Michael Strysick told CPP.
“Even with power now restored, without running water we cannot allow anyone except essential, recovery employees to be on campus. Health and safety considerations must be first and foremost.”
A FAQ web page for UNC Asheville’s students and faculty is now available.
Lees-McRae College
Lees-McRae College, a Presbyterian school with about 630 students who attend classes in person, is in Banner Elk, in Avery County.
A tree fell on a residence hall before the college had the opportunity to evacuate students, but no one was hurt. “Anytime you hear about a tree damaging a roof with students still in it, it makes your heart skip a beat,” college president Lee King said. “But we were blessed that no one was injured.”
King describes campus damage as “moderate.” Three buildings were damaged by fallen trees: a residence hall, the college’s business school, and an auxiliary gymnasium.
On the Friday and Saturday after the storm, students roughed it with no water, power, or sewer. “Our staff did a monumental job caring for our students,” King said. “We made sure they were safe, fed, with plenty of water and supplies. I’m very proud of the resiliency our students showed.”
Students were fully evacuated by that Sunday afternoon. King says there has been minimal damage to student property. The school’s insurance company is working to put together a financial estimate of the damages to campus, which should be ready by the end of the week.
Lees-McRae has partnerships with other private colleges in North Carolina and Virginia, and student athletes who play fall sports have been able to move to those colleges as a team to continue practices.
As of Monday, the school is conducting classes virtually. As far as King knows, all students have been able to find an internet connection to log on and join their classes, he said. The switch was easy, as the memory of pandemic-era education has not yet faded from memory. Plus, Lees-McRae already accommodates more than 200 online students.
“We learned some emergency management protocols and techniques during the COVID experience,” King said. “We were able to dust off that manual and put them to use here with things like emergency communications.”
King hopes to reopen campus by Oct. 23, but the schedule is fully dependent on how quickly Banner Elk can repair its infrastructure.
“The biggest implications for the town is the damage to its sewer system,” King said. “The town is having to rebuild significant portions of the system that were damaged in the flood.”
Western Carolina University
Western Carolina University’s main campus in Cullowhee, in Jackson County, kept power and water during the storm, a rarity in the western counties. Campus was never evacuated, but classes will not resume on Oct. 21. The school has more than 12,000 students.
“In only a few days, we’ve received hundreds of requests from students who need emergency assistance,” WCU spokesperson James Hogan wrote in an email to the WCU community. “Our students have lost housing, cars, computers, and income they need to pay their bills.
“Further, hundreds of our faculty and staff live in counties that were devastated by the storm. They, too, have lost houses and goods — and in some cases, tragically, loved ones.”
The wider population in Jackson County faces ongoing challenges regarding the availability of food, water and fuel.
Because the university is operating under Condition Level 1, meaning that it remains open with reduced operations, “employees must use available personal leave time (compensatory, vacation or bonus) to cover any time away from regular work hours.”
The university’s Bardo Arts Center and Mountain Heritage Center is hosting an event on Nov. 7: “Echoes Across the Smokies: a Night of Bluegrass, Ballads, and Tall Tales.” The event was planned before the storm, but is being repurposed as a community gathering post-Helene.
No damage was done to WCU’s Asheville location in Biltmore Park, but it is struggling due to the unavailability of water in the city.
Appalachian State University
Appalachian State, located in Boone in Watauga County, with a student population of about 21,000, is largely empty now after flooding wreaked extensive damage on campus. Residence halls, dining facilities, and campus medical facilities remain open, though classes are canceled until Oct. 16.
“We recognize that students, faculty and staff are still managing the consequences of Hurricane Helene, which will continue for some time,” App State Interim Chancellor Heather Norris wrote in an email to the App State community.
“As members of our university community are focusing their energy on adapting to a life situation that has changed dramatically, our counseling professionals tell us that a forward focus and routine are important.”
Students, faculty, and staff can apply for financial assistance due to missed work, lost or damaged housing, missing items, and other impacts of the storm at App State’s Disaster Relief Hub.
Flooding in Boone has rendered some students and faculty homeless. The Bavarian Village, an apartment complex which housed many students, faculty and staff, has been fully evacuated.
Some professors are speculating that classes may move online. “Flexibility will be key this semester, with lesson plans and format of classes,” ShanShan Lou, chair of App State’s communication department told CPP. “We learned that flexibility with COVID.
“I think increasingly, though, we will see the opportunity to go back to campus. They are cleaning out flooded buildings, and people have been working nonstop to restore services. Some buildings and roads are completely fine.”
While this emergency situation feels reminiscent of the pandemic, Lou said it is different in one key way. “In COVID time, people could not be together,” Lou said. “But now we can. We are seeing strangers helping strangers.”’
Norris encourages those returning to Boone in advance of the Oct. 16 back-to-school date to limit their use of vehicles by carpooling and limiting travel, remain mindful of the county curfew, and support local businesses.
Parents who are accompanying their child back to campus are encouraged not to stay the night in Watauga County, leaving hotel rooms open for essential personnel and those displaced from their homes.
Mars Hill University
Mars Hill University, a private Baptist school, is located in Madison County, close to the Tennessee border. After Helene, just 300 students remain on campus. University president and chair of the Appalachian College Association, Tony Floyd, told CPP that the campus didn’t suffer too badly in the storm.
Some faculty living in Swannanoa and East Tennessee lost their homes, as did some students closer to campus. Still, Floyd hopes that most of the students will be back when classes resume on Oct. 14.
“We could’ve had class as soon as last week, if the roads had allowed faculty to come to campus,” Floyd said.
“If you drove through (campus), you would think it’s a normal situation. Of course, if you go 8 miles down the road to Marshall or if you go to Hot Springs, it’s a much different situation.”
Unlike many other colleges in the region, Mars Hill never lost water, and only lost power for a couple days. Staff is back on campus and crews have cleared trees that fell in the storm.
“There is bad information and terrible rumors being spread by some media outlets that we didn’t have any food or water through any of this, but the truth is, we didn’t miss serving a single meal.”
Lenoir-Rhyne University
Lenoir-Rhyne University, a private Lutheran school, has three campuses: one in Hickory, one in Asheville, and one in Columbia, South Carolina. Normal operations are underway in Hickory, and will resume in Columbia on Oct. 9. In Asheville, administrators are hoping to reopen on Oct. 15, though they are hedging their bets.
“We know that many of our students, faculty and staff in Asheville and surrounding areas are dealing with significant challenges, including no power, no water and no internet,” reads the Lenoir-Rhyne emergency information page.
“In addition, many people are in temporary housing situations and are focused on more immediate concerns.”
Brevard College
Brevard College, a private college with a student population of about 800, weathered the storm well, but struggled with communications in Brevard, in Transylvania County.
Cell service and internet were out for days, though power and water outages weren’t major concerns. According to student newspaper The Clarion’s storm aftermath edition, little wind or water damage affected the campus.
“Myers Dining Hall, meanwhile, has become a makeshift community center, where students, staff and faculty and their families gather for brunch and dinner each day for fellowship and news, and to share stories of how things are going,” reads English professor John B. Padgett’s story in The Clarion.
This article first appeared on Carolina Public Press and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
Before you comment
The comments section is here to provide a platform for civil dialogue on the issues we face together as a local community. Xpress is committed to offering this platform for all voices, but when the tone of the discussion gets nasty or strays off topic, we believe many people choose not to participate. Xpress editors are determined to moderate comments to ensure a constructive interchange is maintained. All comments judged not to be in keeping with the spirit of civil discourse will be removed and repeat violators will be banned. See here for our terms of service. Thank you for being part of this effort to promote respectful discussion.