The students, members of the college’s Disaster Management and Response Club, were led by PSC Assistant Disaster Management Professor Chris Sheach on the 900-mile trip to Buncombe County, where they helped with disaster recovery, cleaning up rivers and trails, gutting houses to avoid mold growth and speaking with the residents who are still a long way from restoring their hometown.

Junior Ryan Chiari said it was sad to see how the hurricane left the town, but cool to be a part of the effort to bring it back.

The college’s disaster management program started in 2019 and the club started in 2023. Chiari said this was the first real-world experience for all of them.

When Hurricane Helene hit in September, it traveled farther inland than expected, killing 241 people and creating billions of dollars of damage. Waters filled Swannanoa neighborhoods in 30 minutes and rose over the gutters of houses.

Paul Smith’s College students in the Disaster Management and Response Club assisted in the Hurricane Helene cleanup in western North Carolina over their winter break. (Provided photo)

Workers with the Federal Emergency Management Agency were stationed there for around three months after the disaster, residents told the students. But they don’t say around forever. When the students arrived in January, FEMA had just left, and there was still a massive load of work to be done. The region was in a “gray area,” with the work being done by volunteers and locals. Seeing the students’ eager faces showing up, knowing people still cared, was encouraging for residents, Freshman Alex Martin said.

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Working and listening

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The first person they met up with was a PSC alumni living in Swannanoa.

“There’s nothing more fitting, I think, than cutting some trees down with some Paul Smith’s people,” Chiari said.

Every day, one group worked on house demolition and construction, and another worked in the woods.

Sophomore McKenna Verhagen learned construction from the professional contractors she worked alongside.

Sophomore Meredith Valley ran a chainsaw with the North Carolina Climate Solutions Coalition to rebuild and reopen trails at Chimney Rock State Park. They bucked logs and moved rocks to make stairs in trails that had washed out with landslides and cleared them of tree debris. Valley said there were lots of willow trees and black locust trees.

It is physical and dirty work, but the students said they love it. After all, Chiari got into disaster management because, “it sounded cool.”

“I, personally, was really excited to do stuff that was more hands-on,” Martin said.

They learn a lot of theory about disaster management in the classroom. This was a chance to put in long hours in the mud and dirt and see real results of their work at the end of the day.

Freshman Ben Hopke said the trip was “eye-opening.” Seeing the damage and going out to take care of it was rewarding.

Martin said there was a PVC factory upstream from the town and the plastic pipes were everywhere, creating islands in the river.

Sophomore Finnley Jacobson said the saddest part to her was seeing the massive piles of driver’s licenses, keys, children’s toys and other human ephemera lodged under trees and in bushes, washed into every nook and cranny. Sometimes it didn’t even look like they made a dent in the riverbed at the end of the day because they’d look across the water and see mobile homes and campers tangled up in the woods alongside more mounds of trash and PVC pipes.

Jacobson said one Beacon villager said the downtown business area will take at least five years to get back up and running. Chiari said New Orleans is still recovering from Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

Looking at such a monumental uphill battle, Martin said it was actually the locals who kept their spirits up. The people of Beacon Village all had a “positive light,” she said, and were excited to get back up and running.

While they worked with their hands, they also lent survivors their ears.

“A lot of people just wanted somebody to listen to them,” Martin said.

Hopke said he was surprised to see how much providing companionship and camaraderie meant to residents. They’ve been living in the mess for months, and they were optimistic, but exhausted.

“It was sad. The houses were completely gutted. There were no personal items,” Jacobson said.

In one home, where they were scooping out mud from the floors, there was a poster with a painting of a dog on the fireplace that said, “This is a happy home.” She said this was the only personal item in the house.

Jacobson said some residents were grateful to have been through a disaster. They told her they got closer with their neighbors — either providing for them or being provided for by them. She said, surprisingly, people were very cheery.

Martin recalled a story a resident told her as they were working on the river. It was more than a day after the flooding had ripped through town and local radio host Mark Starling bushwhacked his way to the radio station and was communicating with the city, sharing information and updates. But his wife Brandee had been in Black Mountain, where there was no cell service and lots of flooding.

“He hadn’t heard from his wife in two days,” Martin said.

Then, as he was taking calls live on the air, Brandee called into the station and they reconnected.

“The entire town heard him realize that she was still OK,” Martin said. “That gives me chills every time.”

To hear audio of this on-air reunion, go to tinyurl.com/334x67se.

The students raised $6,500 to fund the travel for this trip — with some putting their own money into it. To read more about the club’s preparation for the trip, go to tinyurl.com/bddt3p6w.

Valley, the club treasurer, said they have $900 leftover which they’re going to donate to Save Beacon Village, an organization they worked with run by Karla Gay, who they worked alongside.

According to Gay, the village residents did not have flood insurance because they are an inland community not on a flood plain. Estimated reconstruction costs are up to $200,000 per home.

This organization and its donation page can be found at savebeaconvillage.org.

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New trailer on the way

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This was the club’s first outing and they’re already trying to plan their next.

“We’re ready to get back out there again,” Valley said.

The club members got news on Thursday that they have been awarded a $19,700 grant to outfit a trailer as a Mobile Emergency Operations Center, purchase a radio system and other emergency response equipment.

Chiari and Sheach submitted the grant proposal soon after they got back from the trip. They had borrowed the forestry department’s trailer for the trip.

Chiari said they plan to use the new trailer to bring first aid and disaster aid trainings to communities around the area to improve disaster resilience in the Adirondacks.

The grant comes from the Adirondack Foundation’s Generous Acts program and was funded in partnership with the WaterWheel Foundation.

Chiari said he’s had the idea for the MEOC since the fall of 2023, inspired by a state MEOC they used in a disaster simulation.

The club has a fund set aside now for their next trip.

Chiari said climate change is not going to get any easier and regions all over the world need to improve their mitigation and preparedness.

There are four phases to disaster management — preparation, mitigation, response and recovery. The club’s trip was in the last phase — usually the longest one.

“No one wants to spend money before the event happens, but once it happens, everyone wants answers, everyone wants help, everyone wants resources,” Chiari said, adding that things like dams and levies save lives and property when natural disasters strike again.

Other DMR club members who volunteered on the trip include Senior Abigail Alex, Sophomore Casey Beltrani, Sophomore Deilia Paro, Freshman AJ Brazeau, Senior Brendan Lavery and graduate student Alli Cherry.