Lansing, a charming Ashe County town of fewer than 200 people, will celebrate its survival of Hurricane Helene with an old-fashioned Appalachian fall festival on Oct. 4.
Renee Shuford, 61, is among the organizers of the effort during which the town expects to welcome Gov. Josh Stein and celebrate a ribbon-cutting ceremony.
Shuford, a member of the Greater Lansing Area Development organization, or GLAD, is also rebuilding her historic home in the nearby Tuckerdale Community.
A year ago, her 115-year-old farmhouse was severely damaged by floodwaters. The mud and water also inundated a nostalgic feature of Shuford’s lawn—a train car salvaged from the once-chugging Virginia-Carolina Railroad’s Virginia Creeper steam engine.
The train car was part of a passenger train service that provided passage from Abingdon, Virginia, to West Jefferson until service halted in the 1970s.
Shuford said she hopes to restore her home and train car by Thanksgiving.
“I’ve been very busy. Right now, they are rebuilding my house, and I’m trying to get back in there by November,” said Shuford, explaining that busy contractors only became available in June.
“I’ve been able to stay with friends in Ashe County since the middle of October,” said Shuford, who drives to her old house daily to feed her two cats, who’ve remained mainly on the storm-ravaged property.
“My friends had purchased a house beside theirs to make into an Airbnb a week before the storm,” said Shuford, who owns Blue Ridge Healing Arts Academy through which she teaches massage and body work across the Southeast.
Shuford: State, federal money came through
However, her most demanding job this year has been as volunteer coordinator for Ashe County relief efforts. “It’s a huge job but very rewarding,” Shuford said.
While there’s plenty yet to do, including bridges to build, roads to repave and land to restore, Shuford said she’s consistently seen the state and federal government come through with aid for Ashe County.
“The federal funding was through FEMA. And initially, there was some delay,” Shuford said. “But I think they have done a pretty good job. People have been able to get those resources.”
Damage to western NC estimated at $53 billion
Experts estimate the damage to western North Carolina exceeds $53 billion. An exact figure for Ashe County’s damage was not available.
Shuford said that most people around Lansing say they feel like the state has heard their pleas for help.
“Josh Stein has been incredible,” Shuford added. The county has gotten a lot of money from the state. We’ve had grant programs for personal use and businesses. If people have applied and are qualified for the grants, they’ve been getting them.”
The people of Lansing are strong and persist in rebuilding, but the community is still far from normal, Shuford said.
“As a collective, we are doing OK. It’s certainly been a process. I’m sure people have changed. I have,” Shuford said. “Spiritually, I think that the storm, plus the combination of everything else going on in the world, makes everything feel a bit heavy right now.”
Resiliency is key, Shuford said.
“The people in my orbit have kept their noses to the grindstone, and people have helped us. Overall, I think people are doing OK,” Shuford said. “I grew up in Boone, so I’ve seen this my whole life. Mountain people are very resilient. Very hesitant to ask for help. And they’ve proven time and time again, they are strong. But with this disaster, they realized they needed to ask for help.”
Ashe County still needs financial help
Shuford said rebuilding is costly, and Ashe County residents are still depending on financial support from anyone who can share.
“People in the rebuilding process often find they are over-budget. I had a budget, and it’s gone well beyond that. It’s just expensive. Everything is expensive these days.”
“Financial support from people is very needed. Also, people are in need of building supplies sent directly to them. We’ve taken care of food, water, and clothing. Now we’re in the rebuilding phase and people are needing help getting the things they need to do that.”
Samaritan’s Purse, a non-profit operated by the Rev. Franklin Graham, has provided appliances and home furnishings to hundreds of folks in Ashe County, including Shuford, she said.
“They’ve been phenomenal,” she said. The organization considers applications for help, sends out a team to evaluate rebuilding sites, and then approves purchases of needed appliances or furnishings so that homeowners may choose items that suit their taste.
To help recovery in Ashe County, donate to Ashe Recovery or Greater Lansing Area Development.
A different view of aid
E.H. Farmer of Warrensville, an 80-year-old Ashe County resident who in 1968 built a brick riverfront home Helene destroyed, feels forgotten by state and federal leaders, he said.
Farmer said he worries that more urban Asheville in Buncombe County, 100 miles away, gets more help than Ashe. However, statistics don’t bear out that picture.
General frustration is a battle for Farmer and many other residents, he said. Excessive rain this year has delayed rebuilding the home he constructed, brick-by-brick, 57 years ago.
“I built that house when I came out of the Army,” Farmer said of the brick ranch home he passed along to his son, Eric, who grew up there.
Eric and his wife, Kathleen, fled the house when Helene hit on Sept. 27, 2024. The couple has been renting a home nearby as they wait for permits to rebuild on the same site.
“But all this rain is holding everything up,” the elder Farmer said of sewer permits and the like. “Everything is so wet, you can’t hardly get anything done.”
This time last year, Farmer and Eric were cleaning debris from the house’s front yard, the home’s bricks buckling from flood and wind damage.
Farmer said a return to life as it was seems unlikely. “Some people will never be the same,” he said. “It will take years and even then, some things will never be the same.”
‘When it rains, it gets bad’
Christy Matkins endured one of Helene’s most insidious assaults.
Matkins, 41, a firefighter for the Lansing Volunteer Fire Department, stayed alone at the downtown station house on September 27 during the storm.
When floodwater rushed into the downtown, the 5-foot-2-inch Matkins found herself trapped in the building’s kitchen.
Water poured in through the firehouse windows, forcing Matkins to climb atop a stove. Water continued to rise higher by the minutes, first to her waist, then her chin, and finally her ears.
Matkins called 911. Emergency workers could not reach her.
With her head touching the ceiling, Matkins would tread water and practice prayer for four hours. Eventually, the water receded.
Spared, Matkins at first said she felt stronger and free of her longstanding fear of deep water.
But as the year wore on, Matkins began struggling with nightmares and a fear of drowning, said her mother, Cindy Matkins, 63.
“She was such a good volunteer firefighter, and she tried to help everybody,” the elder Matkins said from her Lansing home. “But she’s not working anymore. She just can’t.”
“I was by myself when the storm came,” Cindy Matkins said. “I went out on the porch, and the wind and the rain were so strong. I got down on my hands and knees and prayed. My fiancé was working. And by the grace of the Lord, he walked four and a half hours through the mountains and the rain that night to get back to me.”
“The devastation is just terrible. The devastation of our history … houses gone, bridges gone, the creeks, the land,” Cindy Matkins said.
“People are depressed, and when it rains, it gets bad. The fear comes back to me and to lots of people,” she said.
sspear@rockinghamnow.com
(336) 349-4331, ext. 6140
@SpearSusie_RCN
Stay up-to-date on what’s happening
Receive the latest in local entertainment news in your inbox weekly!
* I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy.
Susan Spear
Get email notifications on {{subject}} daily!
Your notification has been saved.
There was a problem saving your notification.
{{description}}
Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items.
Followed notifications
Please log in to use this feature
Log In
Don’t have an account? Sign Up Today