By now, this story of locals living in flimsy tents post-Helene has taken on a life of its own.
Especially once the frigid temperatures hit last week, the idea of people living in tents in Swannanoa and Fairview, among the hardest hit areas in Buncombe County, really fueled some outrage, both online and among some national media outlets and professional provocateurs.
Buncombe County and FEMA say the stories are inaccurate and overblown, that they have checked on everyone in need and no one is living in a tent who hasn’t chosen to do so.
So where does the truth lie? Are we edging into urban myth territory, or are our neighbors toughing out the coldest temperatures of the year in lightweight tents?
In my opinion, a few people undoubtedly do remain in tents, but they are very few and apparently it’s by choice. And I do feel some in the media or on social media are trying to score political points by bashing FEMA, the federal government, and local leaders.
Last Wednesday I went out to Old U.S. 70 with photographer Starr Sariego, and it didn’t take long to find tents set up on adjoining pieces of property owned by Dara Cody and Joe Bryant. They remain neighbors after the storm, although they’re living in a hotel and a camper right now, respectively, instead of in their homes on the Swannanoa River.
Those homes are gone, swept away by floodwaters.
We found a compound of campers and recreational vehicles, as well as two tents people are living in, and another tent that’s used as a supply tent. Twenty to 30 people are staying on the property at any given time, the property owners and organizers said.
Cody said people definitely were living in tents after Helene, but that’s not the case now.
“We all have either a camper or tiny home, except (one) couple, Lewis and Samantha,” Cody said.
Dara Cody said people definitely were living in tents after Helene, but that’s not the case now. // Watchdog photo by Starr Sariego
Lewis Arthur and his wife, Samantha Ricks, have taken on a leadership role in organizing the compound, bringing in supplies, and ensuring folks are taken care of. They live in a heated, more heavyweight tent.
“We live by choice — our ministry, and my wife and I — we do that by choice,” Arthur told me. “We’re just nomads, OK? We’re OK living in tents.”
Some are not, and Arthur said people who aren’t used to tent living were indeed forgotten in the immediate weeks after the storm.
Arthur and his wife have been volunteering in Chimney Rock and Burnsville, and they’ve spoken with FEMA contractors and representatives in both places. He feels like other places have gotten federal assistance more quickly, while Swannanoa has been overlooked.
While Arthur maintains that “every single thing” that’s come into the Swannanoa camp has come from Christian organizations, he also understands what FEMA’s main role is.
Lewis Arthur and his wife, Samantha Ricks, have taken on a leadership role in organizing the compound, bringing in supplies, and ensuring folks are taken care of. They live in a heated, more heavyweight tent. // Watchdog photo by Starr Sariego
“They just put the money (out),” Arthur said. “That’s all they are. That’s what I explain to people — FEMA is not gonna come down here with tractors and help clean you up.”
His concern is, “That money isn’t showing — that money is being delayed.”
He says many people have brought in a steady stream of supplies, ranging from fuel and generators to food and gravel.
“That is what FEMA should be doing,” Arthur said, touching on one theme that’s gained traction online — “That you can write checks all you want for all these other countries and wars and other borders, but these people are going to be freezing this winter if we don’t get them in more suitable conditions.”
FEMA and Buncombe County dispute the notion that they’re not doing anything, which I’ll get to in a minute.
Cody said FEMA has been onsite with an inspector.
“And then they sent someone to come out after that, to make sure everyone had spoken to someone from FEMA,” Cody said, noting that she’s been staying in a hotel paid for by FEMA but will move into an RV onsite. “But if you mean come out helping us with anything, no.”
Cody said she’s been in a hotel room for three weeks but has been told she’ll have to be out by Dec. 11. But FEMA announced last week it is extending these hotel stays through the holidays.
I asked Bryant, who also lost his home, vehicle, and possessions in the Sept. 27 flooding, if he’d seen anyone from FEMA.
“What do they look like?” Bryant cracked.
He explained that he has talked to FEMA on multiple occasions at the FEMA Center in Buncombe County, and they did offer him a hotel room. Cody added, “They’ve given that option to almost everybody.”
But Bryant’s offer came with a catch, he says.
“What I was offered was toward Pigeon Forge, and I work every day,” Bryant said. “I’d like to vacation there, but I ain’t got time for that either.”
He says he has not received any money yet from FEMA.
Cody also pointed out that they still don’t have any water or electricity on her property or Bryant’s, other than generators and bottled water.
My takeaway on FEMA is this: Representatives have been to Swannanoa and reached out to people, but those people are frustrated by the bureaucracy and paperwork, and sometimes the lack of a timely response.
A tent for storage stands in front of Dara Cody’s RV. // Watchdog photo by Starr Sariego
What FEMA and Buncombe County say
FEMA’s North Carolina Newsdesk answered multiple questions I sent. FEMA said it’s been working closely with Buncombe County and the state to get disaster recovery information to Helene survivors.
“That includes individuals who are sheltering in tents,” FEMA said. “Last week the county and state led targeted outreach to Barnardsville and Swannanoa areas to make sure those still sheltering in tents were aware of and connected with the various forms of assistance — either through FEMA or other organizations.”
FEMA disaster assistance specialists were available to register anyone who had not already applied for assistance.
“Some said they did not want to register or said they had received assistance and wanted to remain where they were,” FEMA said.
As of Dec. 4, FEMA said 1,520 families from Buncombe County are in the FEMA program that pays for hotel rooms. I had asked specifically about a guy in Swannanoa who was flooded out and staying in a FEMA-paid hotel room and who was told he’d have to be out this week.
Good news on that front.
“At the request of the state of North Carolina, FEMA will be extending the Transitional Sheltering Assistance program past the holiday season,” the FEMA news desk stated. “This extension will continue providing free hotel and motel rooms to more than 5,200 Helene families already checked into area hotels.”
As of Dec. 4, FEMA offered these stats on post-Helene assistance it’s disbursed in North Carolina:
$263 million approved to 138,000-plus households and individuals beginning their recovery
$274 million in Public Assistance funding approved to support community recovery
Travel trailers or manufactured housing units provided by FEMA Direct to 45 households
FEMA continues to operate a Disaster Recovery Center at Asheville Mall. The agency says the quickest way to apply for assistance is at DisasterAssistance.gov or through the FEMA app. You can also call the FEMA Helpline at 800-621-3362. The deadline to apply is Jan. 7.
Ryan Cole, deputy director for emergency management services, addressed concerns about tents at the Buncombe County Helen briefing Thursday.
A supply tent along with a kitchen tent serve the people of the temporary compound in Swannanoa. // Watchdog photo by Starr Sariego
“Directly after the storm, we did have a lot of people utilizing lightweight tents, and that’s one of the things that we did a canvassing effort for,” Cole said.
“Buncombe County Emergency Services, as well as FEMA staff, have conducted multiple field assessments in several areas to assess the living conditions of displaced residents following Hurricane Helene,” Cole said.
Canvassing focused on Swannanoa, Garren Creek, Fairview, and Barnardsville, and “confirmed that there were no lightweight tents that were being used,” though some canvas tents that have heat are being used in some of the areas.
I asked Cole if there’s anyone in the county staying in a tent now that doesn’t want to be in that tent.
“Absolutely not,” he said.
“They have said that some of those people that are in the lightweight tents, they do not want any assistance,” Cole said. “They were living in lightweight tents before the storm, and they’re continuing to live in those lightweight tents afterwards, because that’s their choice.”
In Swannanoa, Cole said, they found several tents but those are “heavier-weight tents with a heating source.
“But we also found a need for three additional tents — the canvas tents, with a heating source and generator that were supplied in conjunction with the Red Cross to these residents,” Cole said.
In Garren Creek, they identified one person who had been living in a tent but subsequently was provided with a camper. They then used the tent for storage.
“Also, a couple other tents were being utilized to store equipment for people that were utilizing that while they were doing work on their homes,” Cole said. “They were not staying in the tents. A lot of that is what we were seeing in Swannanoa and other areas — where the tents had previously been put up that they may have been using for housing, but were now using for storage.”
The county did not find anyone in Fairview in tents. Some residents in Barnardsville were found in heavyweight tents with heat. The county worked with the Barnardsville Community Center and confirmed that all the residents that needed heated tents had been assisted.
“The one thing that’s important to understand is, even though we may see many things that go across social media, that does not mean that it’s factual, it’s accurate, or it’s true,” Cole said.
He said if you see anyone in a lightweight tent that wants help, you should call the One Buncombe hotline number for assistance at 828-250-6100.
I’m not trying to be an apologist for FEMA or the county. Especially early on after the disaster, help was slow in some cases.
But it’s also clear the county and FEMA have made extensive efforts to reach out to people and provide help.
Some of the frustration is because of the bureaucracy, which can be hard for folks to navigate. For instance, Cody said she was told she was getting a FEMA trailer but then a different worker said no, after a long hold on the phone.
A mistake on her registration and paperwork threw a wrench in her FEMA trailer, but she does have an RV on site she can live in.
Another frustrating experience with FEMA
Plenty of those who endured Helene’s floodwaters remain frustrated with the response. That includes Ben Larrabee, who was living in a single-wide rental trailer next to the river in Swannanoa on Sept. 27.
The water breached his home and toppled several of its cinder-block foundation pillars, but just as he was preparing to swim for it, the waters started receding. Two people in the trailer next door drowned.
Immediately after Helene, Ben Larrabee, shown in front of the remains of his trailer, stayed at the WNC Agricultural Center emergency shelter for about 10 days. FEMA then started paying for Larrabee to stay in a hotel for several weeks. “I was in Hickory for like a week and a half or something, until finally the voucher came through for the hotel, then I was able to try to look for hotels,” Larrabee said. “But that took forever.” // Watchdog photo by Starr Sariego
Larrabee moved to Asheville from Hickory early this year to work for a landscaping business. That did not work out, and he’s now working in the life insurance field.
Immediately after Helene, Larrabee stayed at the emergency shelter at the WNC Agricultural Center for about 10 days. FEMA then started paying for Larrabee to stay in a hotel for several weeks.
“I was in Hickory for like a week and a half or something, until finally the voucher came through for the hotel, then I was able to try to look for hotels,” Larrabee said. “But that took forever. It took several days or a week before I could even find a hotel that would take me.”
Early last week he was worried about that stay running out, but then two days before he was supposed to leave he found out about the FEMA extension that will allow him to stay at least into early January.
Larrabee says he’s received about $8,000 from FEMA, which he does appreciate. But he’s also had to buy a car to replace his Dodge Charger that got swept away, and he’s spending more than usual on food because he has to eat out a lot.
Add in searching for an apartment in a market where even a one-bedroom can go for $1,400 or more, and Larrabee, 42, has been in what he calls a “constant state of wondering and anxiety.”
He’d like to see better communications out of FEMA, and a lot less bureaucracy to access the funds.
More than two months after Helene devastated our area, we still have so much rebuilding to do, and so many people remain in need. People at the makeshift camp in Swannanoa need fuel, generators and heaters, and obviously, restored running water and grid electricity. Larrabee needs an affordable place to live.
Reach out to me if you’d like to help, and I’ll connect you with these folks.
In the meantime, let’s remember that we still have a long, hard road ahead of us, and all of us — whether in government or private citizens — need to keep looking out for one another.
Asheville Watchdog is a nonprofit news team producing stories that matter to Asheville and Buncombe County. John Boyle has been covering Asheville and surrounding communities since the 20th century. You can reach him at (828) 337-0941, or via email at jboyle@avlwatchdog.org. The Watchdog’s local reporting during this crisis is made possible by donations from the community. To show your support for this vital public service go to avlwatchdog.org/support-our-publication/.
www.thecentersquare.com – By Alan Wooten | The Center Square – (The Center Square – ) 2025-04-02 14:21:00
(The Center Square) – Minority benefit against the majority giving up “agency, creativity, decision-making and other vital skills” in what is described as a valley of an artificial intelligence journey is likely in the next few years, says one voice among hundreds in a report from Elon University.
John M. Stuart’s full-length essay, one of 200 such responses in “Being Human in 2035: How Are We Changing in the Age of AI?,” speaks to the potential problems foreseen as artificial intelligence continues to be incorporated into everyday life by many at varying levels from professional to personal to just plain curious. The report authored by Janna Anderson and Lee Rainie of Elon’s Imagining the Digital Future Center says “the fragile future of some foundational and unique traits” found only in humans is a concern for 6 in 10.
“I fear – the time being – that while there will be a growing minority benefitting ever more significantly with these tools, most people will continue to give up agency, creativity, decision-making and other vital skills to these still-primitive AIs and the tools will remain too centralized and locked down with interfaces that are simply out of our personal control as citizens,” writes Smart, a self-billed global futurist, foresight consultant, entrepreneur and CEO of Foresight University. “I fear we’re still walking into an adaptive valley in which things continue to get worse before they get better. Looking ahead past the next decade, I can imagine a world in which open-source personal AIs are trustworthy and human-centered.
“Many political reforms will reempower our middle class and greatly improve rights and autonomy for all humans, whether or not they are going through life with PAIs. I would bet the vast majority of us will consider ourselves joined at the hip to our digital twins once they become useful enough. I hope we have the courage, vision and discipline to get through this AI valley as quickly and humanely as we can.”
Among the ideas by 2035 from the essays, Paul Saffo offered, “The first multi-trillion-dollar corporation will employ no humans except legally required executives and board, have no offices, own no property and operate entirely through AI and automated systems.”
Saffo is a futurist and technology forecaster in the Silicon Valley of California, and a consulting professor at the School of Engineering at Stanford.
In another, Vint Cerf wrote, “We may find it hard to distinguish between artificial personalities and the real ones. That may result in a search for reliable proof of humanity so that we and bots can tell the difference.”
Cerf is generally known as one of the “fathers of the internet” alongside Robert Kahn and for the internet protocol suite, colloquially known as TCP/IP.
Working alongside the well-respected Elon University Poll, the survey asked, “What might be the magnitude of overall change in the next decade in people’s native operating systems and operations as we more broadly adapt to and use advanced AIs by 2035? From five choices, 61% said considerable (deep and meaningful change 38%) and dramatic (fundamental, revolutionary change 23%) and another 31% said moderate and noticeable, meaning clear and distinct.
Only 5% said minor change and 3% no noticeable change.
“This report is a revealing and provocative declaration to the profound depth of change people are undergoing – often without really noticing at all – as we adapt to deeper uses of advancing AI technology,” Anderson said. “Collectively, these experts are calling on humanity to think intentionally and carefully, taking wise actions now, so we do not sleepwalk into an AI future that we never intended and do not want.”
In another question, respondents answered whether artificial intelligence and related technologies are likely to change the essence of being human. Fifty percent said changes were equally better and worse, 23% said mostly for the worse, and 16% said mostly for the better.
The analysis predicted change mostly negative in nine areas: social and emotional intelligence; capacity and willingness to think deeply about complex concepts; trust in widely shared values and norms; confidence in their native abilities; empathy and application of moral judgment; mental well-being; sense of agency; sense of identity and purpose; and metacognition.
Mostly positive, the report says, are curiosity and capacity to learn; decision-making and problem-solving; and innovative thinking and creativity.
Anderson and Rainie and those working on the analysis did not use large language models for writing and editing, or in analysis of the quantitative data for the qualitative essays. Authors said there was brief experimentation and human realization “there were serious flaws and inaccuracies.” The report says 223 of 301 who responded did so “fully generated out of my own mind, with no LLM assistance.”
SUMMARY: On March 14, 2025, President Donald Trump signed an executive order to dramatically reduce funding for seven federal agencies, including the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), which awarded $266.7 million in 2024. The order aims to eliminate non-essential functions and cut agency personnel to legal minimums. The move sparked backlash from library and museum organizations, warning it would severely impact early literacy programs, internet access, job assistance, and community services. Critics urged Congress to intervene, while the administration framed the cuts as part of efforts to reduce government waste under the U.S. DOGE Service initiative led by Elon Musk.
SUMMARY: Raleigh City Council is considering a major redevelopment project near the Lenovo Center that would create a new sports and entertainment district with high-rise buildings, restaurants, shops, and upgraded arena facilities. The proposal, supported by city leaders and the Carolina Hurricanes—who agreed to stay for 20 more years—has drawn both excitement and concerns. Students and staff from nearby Cardinal Gibbons High School support the project but worry about pedestrian safety and construction impacts. City leaders suggested annual reviews to address ongoing issues. The council postponed rezoning decisions until April 15 to allow for more discussion and public input.
New details are emerging about the bold new development that could transform the area around Raleigh’s Lenovo Center, creating a new entertainment district around the arena in west Raleigh.
