'It is absolutely devastating:' North Carolinians band together in the aftermath of Helene's ...

AccuWeather

AccuWeather's Bill Wadell reported live from Marshall, North Carolina, on Oct. 1, helping tell the stories of people who lost everything to Helene's floodwaters.

Transcript

00:00Bill, we've been talking with you here over the past week, how are things right now on the ground?

00:07Yeah, it is a busy and a noisy afternoon. You can hear all of the trucks moving through here

00:11hauling out the mud and hauling out the debris from this small community. We're right at one

00:16of the roadblocks into town and I can tell you there are a lot of people from surrounding

00:19communities and throughout this region who are pouring in trying to help and we're up here out

00:24of the way because it's such a tight squeeze in the middle of town. Most people cannot drive their

00:29cars down here so they are walking into the town of Marshall with supplies and gear just trying to

00:34help out. So many of the people that we have been speaking with in this community say they live

00:39nearby on the mountainside, some smaller towns, and they cannot believe how bad the damage is

00:44in Marshall, a town that they love so much. Marshall, North Carolina is right on the banks

00:49of the French Broad River. What's unique is this is one of the few rivers in the country that flows

00:54north. So much of the water, mud, and even some of the debris from the Asheville area

00:59was carried up here to north. I got my three kids, Griffin, Teddy, and Fisher, and we're just trying

01:05to help out. We're very invested in this town and it's just so tragic and doing anything that we can.

01:10Food, water, gas, hands, shovels, equipment. Very, very bad. Devastated.

01:17Along with all of the families helping with the cleanup, some county crews and contractors are

01:21here with heavy equipment and cars. As you can see in this video from above, they are still

01:26buried in mud. Some homes and businesses have been completely washed away. Guys, if we have an extra

01:31minute, I'm here with Holly. You're one of the business owners here in Marshall. You just walked

01:34up to me. I did. This damage is just unbelievable. For people outside of the area, what do you want

01:40them to know about this community? How hard you guys were hit? How did you guys get through this

01:45How hard you guys were hit and how much help you need right now? We need all the help we can get,

01:50but at the same time, we can't keep congesting downtown. You know, please, if you're a disaster

01:55tourist, now's not the time. Please stay home. If you're here with a shovel, you've got big boots on

02:00and you're ready to shovel mud, sure. But our community is doing an amazing job. We've got

02:06pockets of people that are helping each business. The river got up to 27 feet, so every single

02:14first floor was completely demolished. I had a restaurant down on the south side. It's gone.

02:21We've just gutted it today. We finished. I watched everything that I have worked for

02:26and with for the last 10 years go into a dumpster. It is devastating. It is absolutely devastating.

02:34Holly, I'm sorry. Just one last question for you. For people watching at home, watching at work,

02:39they may be hundreds or thousands of miles away. Their heart hurts for people here.

02:43How much more help do you need from outside the area, even if it's financial, even if it's people

02:47making little donations if they can? Absolutely. There's several GoFundMes for individual businesses.

02:52I'm putting one up later tonight because I did talk to insurance and there was very few of us

02:57that had flood. I was not one of them. So anyhow, we do have one for all of downtown Marshall.

03:04We have a downtown Marshall Association Facebook page. Sean Murphy is the one that is coordinating

03:09the GoFundMe. Do what you can. We would appreciate it very much. We know there are

03:15so many other communities out there that are just as devastated. Chimney Rock, Swannanoa,

03:20Hot Springs, Tennessee. It goes up to Ohio. This path was incredible. Holly, thank you so much. We

03:26appreciate it. We'll be bringing you more live stories from Marshall throughout the evening

03:30right here on AccuWeather. All right, Bill. Holly seems like a delightful person, a nice person to

03:35represent who is actually affected by this. Real people, real businesses. This is hard stuff.

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