No time for shoes as Asheville family flees by boat, fearing they lost everything

ASHEVILLE, N.C. - Kuroe Gray’s first step Friday morning was straight into ankle-deep water.

The high school freshman woke up around 8 a.m. to the sound of her father yelling for her to get dressed because their home was flooding. Kuroe, 14, didn’t even have time to grab a pair of shoes before boarding a rescue boat, she told the Asheville Citizen Times, part of the USA TODAY Network.

By the time she evacuated, water was halfway up the family's front door.

Earlier this week, Western North Carolina saw a "predecessor" rainfall event that brought up to 8 inches in many areas. And then on Thursday and Friday, the hurricane-turned-tropical-storm Helene delivered even more rain to the already swollen French Broad and Swannanoa rivers. The storm also brought high winds that knocked down trees and electrical lines across Buncombe County, leaving more than 100,000 Duke Energy customers without power that morning.

On Friday, the French Broad River in Asheville’s River Arts District covered Lyman Street, flooding the greenway and partially submerging surrounding buildings. That morning, area residents stood on the bridge that spans the river, watching debris float away atop the rushing water. A flock of pigeons tried to brave the wind but were pushed back to a roost beneath the bridge.

At River Ridge Apartments in East Asheville, where Kuroe lives with her father, David Gray, 58, and next door to her grandmother, Sharon Gray, 83, the Swannanoa River forced the family members from their homes.

Sharon Gray told the Citizen Times the water that flooded her apartment washed away her wheelchair and walker. When the rescue crew moved her, it was so painful she thought she might die.

“I haven’t walked for over a year,” she said. “So, there I was, walking, actually walking so that I could get to the boat.”

Her son, David, said the family lost almost everything. All he could save was the family guinea pig, Brown, his mother’s cat, Ellie, and medications.

And it’s not like the Gray family wasn’t ready for the storm.

“I prepped for losing power and for being able to flush the toilet — filling up the tubs, stocking up on water and food,” David Gray said. “I had portable battery packs and camping gear for cooking.”

But how much can a family really prepare for what one county official described as a "500-year-flood?"

“This morning, when the water was coming up closer and closer, I was like, this looks worse than I thought,” he said. “And before you know it, I guess they opened up the dam and water started coming in.”

FEMA, National Guard step aiding in flooding devastation

In the early morning hours on Friday, Buncombe County ordered a mandatory evacuation order from the North Fork Reservoir, where water breached the spillway, to Biltmore Village along the Swannanoa River.

Crews working in the area have conducted more than 40 swift-water rescues, according to county spokesperson Lillian Govus. Additional teams from Illinois, New Jersey and other locations in North Carolina have arrived to support the effort, she said.

More:River levels in WNC: Flooding recorded at French Broad, Swannanoa; rivers still rising

An 82-person urban search and rescue team from the Federal Emergency Management Agency was also assisting with rescue efforts, the City of Asheville said in a news release. The National Guard was also providing support.

Evacuated from River Ridge, the Gray family was at Harrah’s Cherokee Center, where the city set up an emergency shelter in the early morning hours.

By the time the Gray family arrived, the rain and wind had ended. Tourists strolled Haywood Street surveying damage, snapping photographs of broken tree limbs covering sidewalks and streets.

Soon, the sun came out.

More:Tropical Storm Helene evacuees head to Harrah's Cherokee downtown Asheville for shelter

Meanwhile, the Gray family stood inside the lobby of Harrah’s, where more than 400 people evacuated by the late afternoon, assuming they had lost everything and wondering what they would do next.

Brown, the guinea pig, was in the family’s Toyota across the street, which David feared would be towed. Harrah’s parking garage didn’t offer enough clearance for him to enter.

For a moment, Ellie, the cat, appeared to be missing. Fortunately, they discovered she was still resting in her carrier next to her owner.

And Kuroe was still in her bare feet.

Jacob Biba is the county watchdog reporter at the Asheville Citizen Times. Reach him at jbiba@citizentimes.com.

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