On Friday, September 27th, my dear friend Hannah narrowly escaped from her home in WNC after her house was hit by a mudslide amidst flash flooding brought on by Helene. Her family, including her wife, Steph, son, Luka, and their 6 cats and 3 dogs, all managed to escape to safety without injury, but their house is uninhabitable and they are in complete survival mode, not knowing what comes next.

Hannah is a person who has given to and nurtured others in her professional and personal life. As a dedicated Montessori early childhood educator and postpartum doula in the greater Asheville community, she has supported so many people around her to thrive. If you can, let’s join together to help her family get back on their feet and let finances be one less thing to worry about! The

In her own words:

“The only update I can muster is this:

We had to emergency self-evacuate our home due to a mudslide and narrowly escaped extreme danger.

Yesterday at 8:30 am, the storm began and cell service ended. By 9:20 am, this was our yard. We weren’t worried about the flooding and it never did touch our house, but it did become significantly worse.

By 9:35 am, a mudslide hit our home. We panicked, completely unprepared, and rushed to gather all of our animals. We made it out the door and out into the storm—the plan was to head to our neighbor’s across the road on higher ground. The waters raged like a mile-wide river. The water was closing in on us. Another neighbor saw us and brought us into their flooding basement. Water was pouring in. Steph, Luka, and I held hands and made the best of what we could for over an hour.

By 10:30 am, the rain had a lull that allowed the water to recede slightly. Steph took that opportunity to check out our next escape route. She made it to our primary neighbors’ homes and said we needed help. Without hesitation, both rushed to save Luka and me, plus 6 crated cats and 3 dogs, from the flooding basement. It is a miracle we kept all of our animals safe and with us.

Before 11 am, we made it to our neighbor Erin’s home, where we initially were heading. They kept us fed and dry, and we are so grateful to call them our neighbors and friends.

Today around 10:30 am, we were able to escape Old Fort because of the neighbors who owned tractors and equipment cutting through trees to make room for cars. The destruction is horrifying. Our home is uninhabitable and we don’t know what our next steps are. We are safe in Burke County for now.