AccuWeather's Bill Wadell reported live from Marshall, North Carolina, on Oct. 1, helping tell the stories of people who lost everything to Helene's floodwaters.
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00:00Bill, we've been talking with you here over the past week, how are things right now on the ground?
00:07Yeah, it is a busy and a noisy afternoon. You can hear all of the trucks moving through here
00:11hauling out the mud and hauling out the debris from this small community. We're right at one
00:16of the roadblocks into town and I can tell you there are a lot of people from surrounding
00:19communities and throughout this region who are pouring in trying to help and we're up here out
00:24of the way because it's such a tight squeeze in the middle of town. Most people cannot drive their
00:29cars down here so they are walking into the town of Marshall with supplies and gear just trying to
00:34help out. So many of the people that we have been speaking with in this community say they live
00:39nearby on the mountainside, some smaller towns, and they cannot believe how bad the damage is
00:44in Marshall, a town that they love so much. Marshall, North Carolina is right on the banks
00:49of the French Broad River. What's unique is this is one of the few rivers in the country that flows
00:54north. So much of the water, mud, and even some of the debris from the Asheville area
00:59was carried up here to north. I got my three kids, Griffin, Teddy, and Fisher, and we're just trying
01:05to help out. We're very invested in this town and it's just so tragic and doing anything that we can.
01:10Food, water, gas, hands, shovels, equipment. Very, very bad. Devastated.
01:17Along with all of the families helping with the cleanup, some county crews and contractors are
01:21here with heavy equipment and cars. As you can see in this video from above, they are still
01:26buried in mud. Some homes and businesses have been completely washed away. Guys, if we have an extra
01:31minute, I'm here with Holly. You're one of the business owners here in Marshall. You just walked
01:34up to me. I did. This damage is just unbelievable. For people outside of the area, what do you want
01:40them to know about this community? How hard you guys were hit? How did you guys get through this
01:45How hard you guys were hit and how much help you need right now? We need all the help we can get,
01:50but at the same time, we can't keep congesting downtown. You know, please, if you're a disaster
01:55tourist, now's not the time. Please stay home. If you're here with a shovel, you've got big boots on
02:00and you're ready to shovel mud, sure. But our community is doing an amazing job. We've got
02:06pockets of people that are helping each business. The river got up to 27 feet, so every single
02:14first floor was completely demolished. I had a restaurant down on the south side. It's gone.
02:21We've just gutted it today. We finished. I watched everything that I have worked for
02:26and with for the last 10 years go into a dumpster. It is devastating. It is absolutely devastating.
02:34Holly, I'm sorry. Just one last question for you. For people watching at home, watching at work,
02:39they may be hundreds or thousands of miles away. Their heart hurts for people here.
02:43How much more help do you need from outside the area, even if it's financial, even if it's people
02:47making little donations if they can? Absolutely. There's several GoFundMes for individual businesses.
02:52I'm putting one up later tonight because I did talk to insurance and there was very few of us
02:57that had flood. I was not one of them. So anyhow, we do have one for all of downtown Marshall.
03:04We have a downtown Marshall Association Facebook page. Sean Murphy is the one that is coordinating
03:09the GoFundMe. Do what you can. We would appreciate it very much. We know there are
03:15so many other communities out there that are just as devastated. Chimney Rock, Swannanoa,
03:20Hot Springs, Tennessee. It goes up to Ohio. This path was incredible. Holly, thank you so much. We
03:26appreciate it. We'll be bringing you more live stories from Marshall throughout the evening
03:30right here on AccuWeather. All right, Bill. Holly seems like a delightful person, a nice person to
03:35represent who is actually affected by this. Real people, real businesses. This is hard stuff.