Tropical Storm Helene saw to that, leaving a trail of destruction in these mountains the likes of which no one alive had ever witnessed. The Sept. 27 storm particularly pummeled Buncombe County, where 43 people died, and it really drew a bullseye on Swannanoa, a modest community of hardworking folks about 10 miles east of Asheville.
Everyone can still see the devastation along U.S. 70, but if you swing back a block off the main road into Beacon Village, named for the former blanket factory that housed its workers here, you can tell Edwards Street took it particularly hard. About two dozen houses are gutted to the studs, and little blue tarps still dot rooftops where people had to be chopped out of their homes by rescuers.
John Zara, 41, his wife Stephanie, 39, and their two boys, 2-year-old Jack and 7-year-old Luca, lived through it, somehow.
“Around 8 a.m., 8:30, within say 30 or 45 minutes, it went from being some water in the road and a little bit in our front yard to waist high,” Zara said, standing near his home Thursday. “So it happened really quickly.”
Zara started putting computers and other valuables up as high as possible, thinking the water certainly wouldn’t top the kids’ bunk beds.
“We ended up getting my wife, our pets and two kids up into the attic,” Zara said.
When they realized the water just kept rising and they might get trapped, they decided to make a swim/dash for it. They clambered over the washer and dryer to a small back porch with a handrail, trying to get on top of the house and out of the floodwaters.
Beacon Village resident John Zara stands near the small window that he, his wife and two young children used to escape their flooded home on Sept. 27. // Watchdog photo by John Boyle
“So I’m standing on the handrail, I got one arm on that other rail up top there, and the baby in my arm,” Zara said. “We kind of make our way around the corner to the side of the house. There’s a tree there. My wife gets in the tree, she’s on the roof, and then she’s able to help get the kids up on the roof. And I get up on the roof.”
His wife and kids were rescued by kayakers about three hours later, Zara by the National Guard in the early afternoon. Their dog and three cats also survived.
Zara said he’s still amazed at how fast the Swannanoa River, which is normally on the other side of U.S. 70 and maybe 40 feet wide, was moving that morning.
“Those gentlemen, they saved our lives,” Zara said of the kayakers. “I mean, otherwise, you know…”
The water inside their home crested near the ceiling, so everything was ruined, although the framework of the 100-year-old structure is sound. They also lost two cars in their driveway.
After a stint in the emergency shelter at the WNC Ag Center, the family has been staying with Zara’s mom in South Carolina.
‘We feel blessed’
Zara, who works in graphic design and marketing, says they’ve been cobbling together resources to begin the gargantuan task of rebuilding the house they’ve called home for 10 years. They paid well under $200,000 for the three-bedroom, one-bath house. Try finding property at that price in Buncombe County these days.
Residents in their 80s say that that part of Beacon Village has never flooded, so Zara feels it’s safe to rebuild. He and his wife also have a mortgage, limiting their options.
“I got a guy who’s gonna donate some countertops; I got somebody that’s donated windows and exterior doors,” Zara said. “And so it’s kind of like this logistical thing of like, ‘OK, now where can I get some drywall and try to find somebody to handle some labor?”
Someone has offered materials and labor on the roof, and they’ve gotten help from the savebeaconvillage.org folks that organized after the storm.
Right now their biggest problem is water that keeps accumulating in the backyard and around the house after it rains. A natural spring runs in the backyard, and Zara suspects a drain pipe that used to keep it in check is clogged or broken.
The moisture is making it difficult to get the 1,200-square-foot house completely dried out inside for the rebuild. He and his family hope to get back in the house by early spring, if they can tame the moisture issue.
John Zara says he and his family hope to be back in their Beacon Village home by early spring, but they’ve had to entirely gut the badly flooded home. // Watchdog photo by John Boyle
But Zara is not one to complain — about any of this.
“We feel blessed,” Zara said. “We’re alive. We have somewhere to stay. When you go out of here — and you’ve probably seen it before, there’s people in tents — so, you know, my story is pretty (bad), but there’s people out there that are a lot worse off.”
He says they’ve also been touched by how the community has pulled together. Immediately after the storm, a throng of church groups and Samaritan’s Purse volunteers arrived and helped gut all the homes and clear out debris.
“The very first few weeks, it was hot and heavy in here,” Zara said. “There were so many people here. You could hardly park. It was insane.”
Some good souls have also helped out with the holidays.
“We have been blessed by some churches and other folks that have taken care of Christmas for the kids this year,” Zara said. “So that’s one less thing for us to worry about, and we can keep saving money towards getting this thing put back together.”
The Zaras have a Gofundme page set up, too, and anything helps. They operate a small soap company, Bella & Oliver, and they have an offshoot company called Beacon Village Candles.
They lost a lot of supplies and inventory for the businesses, but Zara said they’ve rekindled the candle business and are donating $5 per candle sold to savebeaconvillage.org. So even when they’re in need, the Zaras are helping their community.
“We’ve been really fortunate to have a lot of family and friends and community support, and those kinds of things have all come together to create a bigger effect,” Zara said.
A gift bag and a prayer, and a feeling of humble gratitude
As if on cue, while we were standing under a carport behind Zara’s home, a church group walked up the driveway with a gift bag for his family and him. Zander Neuhaus and Josh Rose were from Real Life Church in Montrose, Michigan, and Vincent Scauzzo, from Washington, D.C., had met up with them in the morning to help deliver the packages.
As John Zara talked about surviving Tropical Storm Helene and how important the outpouring of support has been after the storm, a small church group arrived to bring a Christmas gift bag and pray with him. Zander Neuhaus, from Michigan, led the prayer. // Watchdog photo by John Boyle
Scauzzo noted that he met the church group in a morning carpool.
“This was not on my agenda,” he said with a smile. “I’ve been down here for about a week, and I just sort of opened myself up to spontaneity, I guess, in the spirit of Christmas.”
Zara, who’s spiritual but not a regular churchgoer, agreed to pray with the group. And Neuhaus brought the goods, with a solid three minute prayer that touched on the themes of resilience and community, and of course, Jesus and his message that’s so important to many of us this time of year.
As dusk settled over us and a light rain fell, it was a genuinely nice moment.
After they left, Zara talked about how the events of Sept. 27 and its aftermath have made him think more deeply about God and good fortune, about how so many people are truly kind and care about one another.
“We’re really super-appreciative of that community, family and friend system that has gotten us to this point where we can hopefully start putting the house back together and rebuilding,” Zara said.
Sure, Helene brought out the worst in some people, but overwhelmingly it’s brought out the best in all of us. It’s been humbling, too, but that’s come with valuable lessons about just how close we all are to losing everything.
“We’re definitely not people to ask for help,” Zara said. “Being that vulnerable — dropping that shield — has not been the easiest of things to do. It’s kind of refreshing. It feels good to feel that love.”
Not too far from where the Zaras live, an overturned trailer on U.S. 70 in Swannanoa has become something of a landmark, so locals took it upon themselves to decorate it for Christmas. // Watchdog photo by John Boyle
On my way home on U.S. 70, I passed by the overturned trailer that’s become something of a landmark since Helene. Lying on its side, debris still entwined in its wheels, it’s a reminder of the destruction and hardship the storm visited on Swannanoa.
But now, people have decorated the trailer for Christmas, complete with lights, a gaudy tree, blowups and illuminated candy canes. If that’s not turning overturned trailers into Christmas cheer, I don’t know what is.
It’s resilience, with a dash of hope. Stay strong, everyone, and have a great holiday season.
Asheville Watchdog is a nonprofit news team producing stories that matter to Asheville and Buncombe County. Got a question? Send it to John Boyle at jboyle@avlwatchdog.org or 828-337-0941. His Answer Man columns appear each Tuesday and Friday. The Watchdog’s reporting 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 – ) 2025-03-31 16:37:00
(The Center Square) – Judicial warfare is eroding the confidence in Americans’ justice system leaving a blight on justice itself, says a North Carolina congresswoman who leads the Rules Committee in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Rep. Virginia Foxx, R-N.C, is speaking out against judges blocking the president’s decisions as granted in the Constitution ahead of a Tuesday congressional hearing.
“As of late, we have certainly seen a slew of rulings by rogue judges that surpass their own constitutional authority,” she said in a post to social media Monday afternoon. “This is judicial warfare in the flesh. If it is not remedied in a commonsense and expeditious fashion, these exercises in partisanship will do further irreparable damage to the nation and to the confidence of Americans in our justice system.”
More than a dozen orders from President Donald Trump – more than in the entire time Joe Biden, Barack Obama and George W. Bush served as presidents – have been thwarted or attempted to be blocked. Among the judges in the spotlight is U.S. District Judge James Boasberg, a pivotal figure in deportation of people accused of being in gangs in addition to just being named to preside in a case involving military operations and a messaging app.
Boasberg, appointed by Bush to the Superior Court of the District of Columbia in 2002, was nominated to the federal bench by Obama and confirmed in the Senate 96-0 in 2012.
Boasberg on Wednesday issued and on Friday extended a temporary restraining order that prevents Trump from using the Alien Enemies Act to deport people believed to be part of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua. A hearing, Judicial Overreach and Constitutional Limits on the Federal Courts, is at 10 a.m. Tuesday to be conducted jointly by the Subcommittee on Courts, Intellectual Property, Artificial Intelligence and the Internet, and the Subcommittee on the Constitution and Limited Government from within the Judiciar Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives.
California Republican Darrell Issa is chairman of the former committee, Texas’ Chip Roy the latter. North Carolina Democrat Deborah Ross is a minority member of the former; North Carolina Republican Mark Harris is a majority member of the latter.
Witnesses scheduled include former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and Cindy Romero, a victim of criminal activity believed perpetrated by Tren de Aragua in Aurora, Colo. Also on the invite list are witnesses from the Edwin Meese III Center for Legal and Judicial Studies at the Heritage Foundation.
Other federal judges drawing fire from supporters of the president include Biden appointees Amir Ali, Loren AliKhan, Deborah Boardman, Angel Kelley and Brendan Hurson; Obama appointees Paul Engelmayer, Amy Berman Jackson, John McConnell and Leo Sorokin; Bush appointee Joseph Laplante; Bill Clinton appointee William Alsup; and Ronald Reagan appointees John Coughenhour and Royce Lamberth.
“Without question,” Foxx said, “exceeding constitutional mandates as a matter of judicial philosophy does nothing more than blight justice itself.”
www.thecentersquare.com – By Alan Wooten | The Center Square – (The Center Square – ) 2025-03-31 15:21:00
(The Center Square) – Wildfires continued to burn Monday in the Carolinas, though a sign of optimism arose with a burning ban lifted in 41 South Carolina counties and measured rainfall in both states.
Largest of the fires is Table Rock in Pickens and Greenville counties of South Carolina. The Black Cove fire is burning in North Carolina’s Polk and Henderson counties, the Rattlesnake fire is burning Haywood County, and the Alarka 5 fire is in Swain County.
South Carolina’s Horry County at the Atlantic Ocean and North Carolina border, and the northwestern counties of Spartanburg, Greenville, Pickens and Oconee remain under a burning ban. In North Carolina, all 100 counties have a ban in effect.
The Table Rock fire size is about 13,191 acres in South Carolina and 574 in North Carolina, the Forestry Commission of the former said. Containment is about 30%.
The Persimmon Ridge fire is 2,078 acres in size with 64% containment. Rain Sunday into Monday measured nearly 1 inch.
The Covington Drive Fire in Myrtle Beach is about 85% contained and in mop-up and strengthened firebreaks stage.
In North Carolina, the Black Cove complex of fires are 7,672 acres in size. It includes the Black Cove (3,502 acres, 36% contained), Deep Woods (3,971 acres, 32% contained) and Fish Hook (199 acres, 100% contained) fires. Rainfall overnight into Monday helped the battle.
by Jane Winik Sartwell, Carolina Public Press March 31, 2025
Corn farmers on food stamps and taking second jobs. Equipment not being repaired. Debts going unpaid.
That’s the reality for many North Carolina corn growers this spring.
Last year was the worst season for the crop in state history, according to Ronnie Heiniger, a corn specialist at N.C. State. Drought wiped out acre after acre in eastern North Carolina last summer. Hurricane Helene devastated any crops left in the mountains.
Normally a $750 million dollar business, corn yielded only $250 million in 2024.
The economic cost to farmers — and their communities — couldn’t be more serious. And with a moderate drought stretching into the early days of this planting season, some are worried about more bad luck to come.
Corn is particularly sensitive to drought due to the crop’s very short window of pollination: This critical period of growth is just a few days long. In North Carolina, that vulnerable timeframe usually happens in June. If no rain falls during those days, corn will simply not continue to grow and yields will sharply decline.
“It was just about as bad as it could get (last season),” Heiniger recalled. “There’s no recovering from 60 days without rainfall. The mood among these farmers is very depressed. Some don’t know where to turn.”
But the N.C. House of Representatives is trying to help, hoping that the money allocated by the Corn Farmers Recovery Act, or HB 296, will be enough to keep the industry going.
The bill — which has yet to make it past the Appropriations Committee, the Rules Committee, the House and Senate — would transfer nearly $90 million from the State Emergency Response and Disaster Relief Fund to the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. The money would go toward the creation of a 2024 Agricultural Disaster Corn Crop Loss Program, which corn farmers could apply to receive relief funds.
“To be honest, I don’t think most farmers thought the state was going to pay much attention to them,” Heiniger admitted. “This comes as a complete surprise.”
Corn farmers ‘at risk’
Corn is a summer staple on tables across North Carolina, but the crop also is necessary for feeding livestock and producing ethanol, which has a variety of uses. Sampson and Duplin counties, where pigs outnumber people 38 to 1, are home to the largest hog industries in the country. A shortage of feed could make that billion dollar business less profitable, too.
“I think a whole lot of farmers will be applying for this funding if it passes,” Zach Parker, an extension agent in Sampson County, told Carolina Public Press. “I don’t think devastation is understatement in the slightest. As for this summer, the only certainty is uncertainty. But I don’t think the corn industry is going anywhere. We have animals to feed.”
The bill would have the greatest economic impact in eastern North Carolina — the region with the largest, most valuable corn farms.
“In Wilson County, corn farmers have really been at risk,” said state Rep. Dante Pittman, a Democrat who serves Wilson and Nash counties and co-sponsored the Corn Farmers Recovery Act. “We saw an almost $4 million drop in income from corn in Wilson alone.
“The thing about this industry is that we don’t know what this year’s weather is going to bring. Anything we can do to prevent that loss from being devastating is necessary.”
Desperation down on the farm
With the cost of farming supplies high and crop commodity prices low, farmers are growing desperate.
“This bill will not only help farmers, but the farm communities that survive on selling fertilizer, chemicals, seeds, tractors and farm labor,” Heiniger explained. “It will help these rural communities where farmers are turning to food aid for their kids at school.”
The bill is geared toward those who grow corn, but since most farmers harvest a diverse set of crops, the money would in turn support production of soybeans, cotton, sweet potatoes and other North Carolina staples, according to Mike Yoder, an associate director of the College of Agriculture at N.C. State.
But some, like Rhonda Garrison, have concerns about the bill. Like, how will the relief funds be allocated? That’s something Garrison, director of the Corn Growers Association of North Carolina, wants to know.
“The bill is pretty ambiguous in terms of the formula for distributing the money,” Garrison contends. “I guess farmers will just have to apply for it and see what happens.”
But she doesn’t think the money will come too late to be useful.
“There were some farmers — overleveraged farmers who were already on the edge — that were done in completely by 2024,” Garrison said. “But not the majority. The potential money from this bill will likely go toward paying down debt.”
As planting season approaches, North Carolina corn farmers face difficult decisions about the future. There is a possibility the state will face some kind of natural disaster in 2025, whether it be hurricane, drought or continued fires.
“Us farmers rejoice in suffering because it produces character,” Heiniger said. “That’s what these farmers are trying to do: hold onto their character so they can get some hope and keep on going.”
