Support Families in High Rock Acres Recovery

Help High Rock Acres Rebuild Safe Access After Hurricane Helene

Our community in Black Mountain, NC, needs your help. In late September 2024, Hurricane Helene struck our mountain neighborhood with catastrophic rainfall and landslides that left us stranded for days with no way in or out.

The entrance to High Rock Acres Road, our only access route, was completely washed away by a massive landslide, cutting off all access for all ~110 homes in the neighborhood. Over 100 residents and visitors, including retirees and families with children, were stuck for days, with some airlifted out by helicopter for medical emergencies. During this tumultuous time, the neighbors banded together to help each other while supplies were air-dropped in and power, water, and Internet access became rare and precious resources.

The Temporary Fix

Thanks to the quick thinking and hard work of several community members, we were able to build a temporary road using tractors, chainsaws, and plenty of manual labor, allowing for limited vehicle access. While this has allowed us to regain basic access, it is not safe or sustainable in the long run. We’ve raised about $8,000 to go towards the costs of this $16,000 temporary fix, but now we need to focus on the larger task: building a permanent, safe road to restore reliable access to our community.

The Problem

The High Rock Acres community does not have a formal Homeowners Association, and road maintenance has historically been handled on a volunteer basis. With it being a private road, we are not entitled to financial support from the state for the necessary repairs. The community simply does not have the funds to cover the estimated $725,000 - $900,000 cost of building a permanent fix for the road after this disaster.

We’re applying to FEMA and some other aid groups for assistance, but we still need your help to cover the gap and ensure our community has permanent access to essential services.

Why We Need Your Support

The temporary road is already causing serious safety concerns:

How You Can Help

We’re asking for your support to raise funds for a permanent road that will restore safe, reliable access to High Rock Acres. Your donation, no matter the size, will help us recover and rebuild.

Your contribution will help cover:

High Rock Acres is a beautiful, remote neighborhood that has long been a safe haven for retirees, families, and nature lovers. We’re proud of our community spirit, and we’ve seen firsthand how residents have come together to help each other through this unprecedented disaster.

But we can’t do it alone. We need your help to make sure we have safe, permanent access to our homes and the services we need. Please consider donating to our campaign and sharing it with others who may be able to help. Together, we can rebuild and restore safety and access to High Rock Acres.

A Little About Me

My name is Melinda Halford, and I am the Vice President of the High Rock Acres Road Maintenance Association Board. My husband Richard and I built our dream home in this beautiful neighborhood surrounded by wilderness and have lived here for 21 years. We are both physical therapists and own a small physical therapy practice in the town of Black Mountain.

We are passionate about conservation and steward 360 acres of conservation land that we previously used to fundraise for local conservation groups in the region. With the extensive damage to both the access road to our neighborhood and the damage to our conservation land we will have to halt that fundraising activity until we can repair our road, then continue with fundraising to repair the access to our conservation land.

We never dreamed we would be facing a storm like Helene in our Western NC Mountains. We have learned a lot about preparedness, and our community did a stellar job of helping each other survive. Our losses were real and expensive, but we were lucky that no one in our neighborhood lost their lives.

We would like to thank those who have already donated. Without your help we would not have been able to build a temporary access to get in and out of our homes. But as we face snowy conditions this winter, then the freeze and thaw conditions in early spring, our temporary road is at risk and so are we while driving on it. We are continuing this fundraiser to help us raise money for a permanent rebuild that will hopefully last us a lifetime and prepare us for future storm events.

All funds raised through this campaign will be transferred directly to the High Rock Acres Road Association bank account, which is managed by our board’s treasurer, Evan McShane.

Thank you for your support, and for helping us create a brighter, safer future for all of us.

—Melinda Halford, PT, CLT, Cert. MDT, PYT