Transcript of Another Hurricane Is Coming. But Helene is Still Hurting.

As we post this, nearly 20 million people are under hurricane or tropical storm warnings, nearly the entire population of Florida, as the state's Gulf Coast prepares for a direct hit from Hurricane Milton. And the warnings, especially in the Tampa Bay area, are stark. Florida's attorney general Ashley Moody, says, If you're in an evacuation zone along the Coast and haven't left, don't expect to survive.

You probably need to write your name and permanent marker on your arm so that people know who you are when they get to you afterwards.

And we are still seeing- Tampa isn't even done cleaning up from Hurricane Helene. I don't mean that figuratively. Mayor Jane Caster says they spent the last few days gathering piles of debris that are laying around.

Getting all of that picked up so that it doesn't become flying objects when Milton comes to visit.

Now, Now, Helene did hit Florida pretty hard, but what really struck me was that so much of the damage happened many hundreds of miles from where the storm actually made landfall. At least 235 people in six states have been killed. There are still more missing. And beyond the loss of life, the flooding left behind incredible damage, especially in Western North Carolina. So many people in areas surrounding Asheville have been literally cut off from the rest of the world.

It's just rough. It's hard to see in the city like this.

Some families tell CNN they've run out of drinking water, and without electricity, their food is rotting.

Rescue teams are navigating the rubble of highways, still searching for survivors.

The data analytics firm CoreLogic estimates the storm caused between $20 and $30 billion in uninsured flood losses. So after Helene, we're left with some familiar questions. When do you rebuild? Do you rebuild at all? But now, climate change is bringing those questions to areas of the country that never expected them. Today, we hear from one North Carolinian about what her road to recovery looks like and why she isn't counting on the federal government to be much help. From CNN, this is One Thing. I'm David Reind.

Right now, me and my boyfriend are staying with family in Topsail Island.

That's in the Eastern part of the state?

Yeah, that's on the Coast.

When did you get there?

It's three days ago.

This is Olivia Cooner. She's an artist and an acrylic painter. She lives with her boyfriend in the rural town of Burnsville, population about 1,600, roughly 35 miles from Asheville. And for four days after the floodwaters arrived, they were two of those missing people I mentioned earlier. She says Western North Carolina does get flooding from time to time, but on September 25th, no one was prepared for what was about to happen.

I think we went into town on Wednesday night. The streets were already starting to flood. And then we went back home. We live in Burnsville, in Yancey County. It's about a 40-minute drive from Asheville. We went home, and on the way home, I was like, Maybe we should get groceries for a few days just in case the power goes out, just in case the roads near our house are flooded, just as a precaution. I'm so glad we did. Friday morning at 5:00 AM, we received an emergency alert saying, flash flooding, this is a life-threatening situation. Stay put. That was what the alert said. Unless you've been told specifically to evacuate. So we were like, Okay, well, we're not going to go anywhere because we took some flashlights outside at 5:00 AM when we got this alert and the roads were already starting to flood a little bit. And we're like, Okay, well, I mean, we live above the Cane River, which is about 4 feet deep. And at that point, the river had risen up to probably about 8, 9 feet, which is where the bottom of the bridge would be.

Have you ever seen it that high before?

No, I haven't. Well, historically, the Cane River has only risen up 10 feet. That's the highest it's ever gotten from any storm, and it was already there in the beginning of Friday morning. My boyfriend and I's house sits 30 feet above the top of the river, typically. So we're like, All right, we're safe. We're way above this flood. And then within one hour, it had risen another 10 feet.

Wow.

And we started to see things go by, like hay bales and pumpkin and some trash. And then it started to get dark and we started to see propane tanks. We started to see shipping containers. We started to see houses start floating by.

Whole houses just floating down the river.

We saw four whole houses floating down the river, and then just a Yeah, we have a little corner store about a block away from us. We watched that detach and float down the river in front of our house. It was terrifying once we realized how fast it was rising. I think when the water was about 10 feet from the edge of the property, we decided to pack go bags and we were prepared to hike up the mountain. And at that point, I had a thought in my mind that we might experience a landslide from behind the house because there's a steep incline behind the house.

And I was like, okay-So you thought you were trapped on two sides?

Well, I mean, if that were the case, we just would have been swept into the river. And I was trying not to think about that because that wasn't happening right then and there. But I was like, this could be bad either way. And sure enough, the river did rise up to the property line and was flashing over the edge. Our basement was flooding. At this point, all of our trees and power lines were gone. A power line had fallen into our house, and we watched somebody try to drive on the roads and get swept down the river in their truck.

Oh, my God.

And it was absolutely horrifying. Dying to watch. And there's something we could do about it.

So did you decide to go up the mountain or stay put? What did you do?

No, we actually noticed that the water was starting to go down a little bit at around 11:30 AM, and then it started to rain more, and then it went up a little bit, and it was just like a waiting game. But we had all of our bags packed, ready to go. With the water had risen another inch or two, we would have been going up the mountain. We're very lucky, very fortunate that we're alive and unharmed, and the house is still standing.

But you're still in the house, and all the roads, obviously, no way out. How long were you there?

So once the water went down, we weren't sure if we still had a road, if we weren't sure if we still had a bridge from the way that the water was flowing. And we realized very quickly that we were stuck, we would not be able to leave. And then the first, it was so quiet the first day that we were there. The rest of Friday, we didn't see a single helicopter, we didn't see a plane, we didn't see neighbors, we didn't see anybody. We were completely alone.

Were you able to call for help?

No. I mean, there's nobody to call to. We actually We shot a gun to see if anybody would hear it and come to us, and nobody did. We were obviously without water and power. Luckily, we had stocked up on some water and some non-perishables, and Over the next few days, it was just a waiting game. We did not see any official help until Monday. The National Guard came for a total of four hours and set up a little supplies camp and offered to take us to a shelter. But the time up until then, we did not see a single helicopter or plane fly over us. There was no official help. The first people we saw that could have helped anybody who had injuries or needed food or water desperately were two people from the volunteer fire Department. They showed up before anybody else.

Well, so you mentioned the National Guard came. Did they take you down? How did you get out?

This is a really interesting part of our personal story. At this point, we had been missing for about 72 hours, and there were Facebook groups looking for us. Somehow, a family that was looking for their elderly grandparents hiked in the night before we knew of any help coming or anything. They found a way to hike in and rescue their elderly grandparents, and they saw my boyfriend and I outside. Their daughter reported that to the Facebook group and compared what they saw to a picture of us and confirmed that we were alive and where to find us with my family. The couple that rescued their grandparents came back for all of their dogs the next day and told us that they had been in contact with our family and that our family was on the way and coming to us. The National Guard came and was like, Do you want us to take you to a shelter? We were like, No, we know our family is coming to us and we'd rather stay put. We know that there's a way in and out now. We don't know where it is, but they might. We're going to stay put.

There's no self-service or way to communicate with them, and we didn't want to lose them or them get to us all the way to us just for us not to be there. So we just decided to stay. We had enough food and water to just stay put for another couple of days. So they showed up on Monday evening. We saw them across the bridge. They yelled for us, and we had to hike through a bunch and climb through a bunch of debris that was on the collapsed bridge to get to them and get them down. And then they stayed in our house, and then the next morning, we set out and we got out in their car.

I want to ask about the response because, unfortunately, these disasters can become quickly politicized, especially in election year. There's been a lot of misinformation pushed out on social media and beyond, especially by former President Donald on Trump about the response, for example, allegations of anti-Republic bias in the relief efforts, how FEMA stole disaster relief funds and gave it to migrants, that there were no helicopters or rescue efforts at all in North Carolina. All of that lies. But I guess I'm wondering, are any of those talking points breaking through, like the people you know that lived through this or around the area? Do they hear that stuff?

Yeah. Honestly, we're mostly ignoring it because we're just coming together as a community, putting all political views aside and just helping each other. We do feel a little bit abandoned by our government. We haven't seen a single Red Cross truck. We applied for FEMA, and we were actually denied any funding, which were the perfect candidates for it. And we just got a one night hotel credit, which is useless. And it's also, from what we understand, they're giving away $750 to people, and that's just about it. And that's one month of groceries and gas. People are still having to pay their mortgages. People are still having to pay rent. Landloads are still demanding rent. I mean, it's not enough.

Well, I'm curious where you heard about that 750 because that is one of those numbers that has been touted by former President Trump as an example of the failings of the response here. But I don't know if that's quite the full reality for the entire picture? Where have you heard that number?

Friends who have gotten $750 from FEMA who have lost entire houses. People that I know personally. Fema has been pushing away people coming with resources trying to help. So it's really the people on the ground right now that are helping each other. If we ever get funding from the government, it's going to be a lengthy process, but people need money and resources right now. And those are the people who are really coming through when our government is failing us.

We should note that $750 number Olivia referenced there. That is just the immediate upfront aid survivors can get to cover really basic short-term expenses, but they can also apply for additional forms of assistance, like temporary housing and home repairs. That could be worth thousands of dollars more if they are approved. And that's just assistance from the federal government. There's also money that federal government provides to state governments to help.

We should also note that initial $750 for serious needs assistance is a number that fluctuates from year to year, no matter who is in the White House.

The damage to your home, what does that look like?

For us, it's going to be a pain in the butt because we don't have flood insurance. So our basement It's already flooded. There's already mold before we left. A power line crashed into our house, and also our driveway is completely ripped up and is also a cliff, and it's not part of the public road, so we're going to have to pay for all of this out of pocket. So we have a go fund me set up for just our living expenses and house expenses, too.

But you are planning to go back?

Yes, we are. I mean, we don't want to abandon Asheville. It's such a special place. There are so many people that are working already to rebuilding it and have plans to rebuild it. We don't, we, we want to go back. I mean, we, we own that house, and we put so much into it. We, we love it so much.

I mean, it's what I was wondering, because after the storm hit, there was some talk about how the Asheville area, specifically, was a quote, unquote, climate haven, a desirable place to live that would be shielded from the worst impacts of climate change. Experts basically said, Yeah, that was never actually a thing, guys. It's all coming for us no matter where we live. But did Is that idea factor in your choice of living in that area?

I mean, yes or no. It was like a little bit of a comfort in the back of our minds. But we both have family in that area, so that's the main reason we moved out there, and that's why we're committed to going back.

So you want to go back to your home, which will still be right next to a river, right? So after all this happened, do you have any sense that this can actually be safe just based on how quickly it flooded and overtook the entire area?

Yeah. I mean, it is a risk. I think everything living in any area is a risk with climate change. At this point, the facts tell us that this is a one in 1,000-year flood, so we are basing going back on that. The land that the house is built on is still there. It is not eroded. The house is solid. Like I said, there's damage, but it is mostly intact. Like I said, we We really do love it. We put so much work into it, and we're planning on going back and staying. I want everybody to know how much every single person, every individual, every business needs money, needs help. We all need money. We've lost our jobs. We've lost everything. If you do want to help on the ground, I really want you to know that coming in, you need to bring your own food, you need to bring your own water, you need to bring your own gas. Don't expect to stay in a hotel room. And if you are not prepared for that, physically, mentally, please don't come and just donate directly to organizations on the ground that are doing all of the work.

It's worse in person than anything on the media, anything you can see online shows you. The vastness of this disaster is unlike anything that I've ever seen or heard of in my entire life.

Well, I'm glad you and your boyfriend are safe and wishing you nothing but the best as you go forward. Olivia, thank you so much.

Thank you. Also, shout out Dolly Parton.

I feel like that's an evergreen statement, right?

Yes. She's already stepping up. I think more people should follow her lead.

If you missed this, Dolly Parton, the legendary country singer and Appalachian native, announced last week she's donating a million dollars to help victims of Hurricane Helene. If you want to learn more about how you can help, just head over to cnen. Com/impact. One Thing is a production of CNN Audio.

This episode was produced by Paula Ortiz and me, David Reind.

Our senior producers are Felicia Patinkin and Jamil. Matt Dempsey is our production manager. Dan Dizula is our technical director, and Steve Ligtai is the executive producer of CNN Audio. We get support from Haley Thomas, Alex Manisari, Robert Mathers, John Dianora, Lanie Steinhart, Jamis Andres, Nicole Pessereau, and Lisa Namarau. Special thanks to Wendy Brundage and Katie Hinman for up to the minute updates on Hurricane Milton. Head over to cnen. Com, the CNN app, or check out the CNN Five Things podcast wherever you listen. We're going to be back on Friday this week with something really special. I think you're going to like it, so be sure to hit the follow button so you don't miss it.

Talk to you later.